Mac Miller‘s posthumous release Balloonerism has become a huge success, debuting at number 3 on the Billboard 200 album chart and moving more units in a week than almost any other Hip Hop album this year.
Balloonerism‘s 81,000 equivalent album units — of which about half were actual album sales — were enough to place it behind only Lil Baby‘s opening week for his latest release WHAM, which moved 140,000 units in the week ending January 18.
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Miller’s newest release is his eighth album to hit the top ten. The other are: Faces, Circles, Swimming, The Divine Feminine, GO:OD AM, Watching Movies With the Sound Off and Blue Slide Park.
One of the artists featured on Balloonerism is SZA. On the project’s release, she shared a moving remembrance of her late friend.
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The project was released on January 17. Early that morning, SZA posted on social media to celebrate, with an attached screenshot noting that she was playing the song on which she is featured, “DJ’s Chord Organ.”
“I love my friend I miss my friend,” she wrote. “Grateful he saw something in me before most and treated me w love from day 1.
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“Wish he could see how right ab everything he truly was. Please go stream Balloonerism RIGHT NOW.”
SZA explained her relationship with Mac in a tribute post on Instagram following Mac’s 2018 death.
“You were the first person I met when I moved here,” she wrote at the time. “U let me come over everyday and be whoever I wanted . showed up for me in ways I can never express or repay . my gratitude is infinite.
“the first person to believe in me and make stuff w me. Record me all day n eat them nasty ass ham sandwiches . Introduced me to the coolest ppl I’ve ever met . showed me how to play gadgets I never seen before . I swam in my clothes once n u gave me pink polo pajamas to change into instead of something ugly ….u too fucking real .”
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Balloonerism comes with an animated film to accompany it.
According to Rolling Stone, the film screened on January 15 in select theaters in Mac’s hometown of Pittsburgh and in New York City at a ticket price of $5, with all proceeds going toward the Mac Miller Fund. It expanded to theaters in Toronto, London, Paris, Melbourne, Berlin, Sydney, Dublin and Auckland the following day. All theatergoers received limited-edition merch as well.
