Latto’s first-week sales for her new album Sugar Honey Iced Tea are in, and the rapper might not be thrilled with the results.
Chart Data has reported that the Atlanta rapper’s third LP has debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Sugar Honey Iced Tea moved 29,000 album-equivalent units, which came in slightly above predictions from earlier in the week.
Check out the list below.
US albums chart update (FINAL; via @HITSDD):
#1 @taylorswift13 85K
#2 @ChappellRoan 71K
#3 @MorganWallen 62K
#4 @billieeilish 56K
#5 Zach Bryan (Bar Scene) 48K
#6 @charli_xcx 47K
#7 @NoahKahan 38K
#8 Morgan (Dangerous) 38K
#9 Twisters 34K
#10 Zach Bryan (Zach) 33K
#14 @Latto 29K…— chart data (@chartdata) August 17, 2024
Despite the anticipation surrounding the album’s recent release and its all-star supporting cast — which includes Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Ciara — industry experts didn’t expect Sugar Honey Iced Tea to make a particularly big splash on the Billboard 200.
According to HITS Daily Double, Sugar Honey Iced Tea was initially projected to earn just shy of 27,000 equivalent units, good enough for a No. 17 debut.
The news delighted the rabid fanbases of both Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, with whom Latto has been embroiled in feuds over the last year and a half.
“LMFAOOOOOOO FLOPPED LIKE EVE[R]Y ALBUM SHE HAS EVER DROPPED,” one Nicki fan account mocked on social media, while another said: “that’s it? HELP.”
A third user wrote in support of Ice Spice: “20 songs with big features and not outselling ice?”
Ice Spice fans might have counted their chickens a bit too early, though, as Sugar Honey Iced Tea surpassed Ice Spice’s debut album Y2K!, which recently moved 28,000 equivalent units in its opening week, a figure that was seen by some as underwhelming given the enormous success of singles like “Princess Diana,” “Barbie World” and “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2.”
That project, peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard 200, four spots below where Latto’s landed.
Nicki Minaj, on the other hand, proved last year that she remains the highest-selling female rapper in the game when Pink Friday 2 debuted at No. 1 with almost 230,000 first-week units.
Latto and Ice Spice have been going back and forth for a while now, with the Atlanta rapper appearing to use Sugar Honey Iced Tea to take another shot at her rival.
On “S/O to Me,” Latto raps: “Bye sis, funny thing about it, you can’t look me in my eye, sis,” which plays on Ice Spice’s first name, Isis.
The second verse on the song also sees her spit: “Shoutout to myself / Who the hardest out? Bitch, it’s Latto by herself / Ice is just water when it melts / Wipe you down, I got plenty towels on the shelf.”
I think billboard just needs to go away because without physical sales its pointless. And even then, I never understood how you gonna make genres compete against each other. So more Americans like pop music than rap, who cares ? I literally never met a male Taylor Swift fan in my life.
Rap seems to be dying. Even most male rappers aren’t getting many streams. All the big names aren’t selling like they used to and even somewhat “popular” rappers aren’t selling like anything. Even country artists are consistently selling more now… not just pop. Sad but true.
ya i agree. country is doing bigger numbers than rap now… only rappers i see pushing somewhat big numbers are eminem, drake, and kendrick and even those numbers are small compared to other genres. the beef was an exception. without eminems album and not like us, rap has been hurting this year
hoes don’t support hoes. only beyonce. lol. they haven’t learned that yet.
People rather buy something they need than that trash album.
Save your money. Don’t buy albums. The economy is bad right now under Biden.
You just parrot lies, the economy is atrongee now than it ever has been. Nice try though
Nice