Drake Expected to Sell 400K in First Week
Drake is gearing up for a monster first week. Following its surprise release to iTunes on Thursday night, his mixtape/album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late is expected to sell as many as 400,000 copies by Sunday night, according to Billboard.
The 17-track project, which features Lil Wayne, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Travi$ Scott, will be a shoo-in for No. 1 on the Billboard 200, outselling the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.
HITS Daily Double predicts that the sales could reach as high as 500,000.
That would be the largest sales week for a rap album since Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2 debuted at No. 1 in November 2013 with 792,000 sold in its first week.
IYRTITL will become Drake’s fourth consecutive No. 1 debut following Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011), and 2013’s Nothing Was the Same, which opened with 658,000 copies.
By comparison, Beyoncé’s 2013 surprise album sold 617,000 in its first three days on iTunes.