EGN NEWS DESK
Future and Metro Boomin, two of the large kahunas of Atlanta hip-hop, have launched a pair of joint albums within the final month — correctly getting them to market forward of Taylor Swift’s new “The Tortured Poets Department,” which has the music trade braced for gigantic gross sales figures.
“We Don’t Trust You,” the primary LP by the rapper Future and the producer Metro Boomin, went to No. 1 three weeks in the past with strong streaming numbers. “We Still Don’t Trust You,” its sequel, opens at No. 1 this week with the equal of 127,500 gross sales within the United States, largely from its 163 million streams, in accordance with the monitoring service Luminate. (“We Don’t Trust You” is No. 3.)
By the time subsequent week’s chart lands, nonetheless, these numbers will look minuscule. “Tortured Poets,” launched Friday, was credited with 1.4 million in conventional album gross sales — which means CDs, vinyl LPs and full-album downloads — on its first day trip, in accordance with Billboard. That signifies an enormous variety of pre-orders; Swift’s web site was promoting the album as early as Grammy night time in February, when she introduced it from the stage. On Spotify alone, the songs from “Tortured Poets” had been streamed 300 million times all over the world, a brand new document on the platform.
Numbers that huge on Day 1 imply that Swift is on observe for the most important opening gross sales week of her profession — greater than for “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” final yr (1,653,000) or “Midnights” in 2022 (1,578,000), her finest to this point. How excessive Swift’s numbers might go is anyone’s guess, however the huge goal is Adele’s “25,” which opened with 3,482,000 in 2015.
Swift delivered “Tortured Poets” with an aggressive and far-reaching promotional plan, together with tie-ins with streaming companies, social media platforms and radio networks. The album was launched in an array of collectible bodily merchandise, together with coloured vinyl and signed editions; by making it a shock double album — bringing its customary observe record to 31 songs — Swift stood to profit from much more clicks on streaming platforms.
Aside from Future and Metro Boomin, this week’s chart additionally contains Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” at No. 2, after two weeks on the prime; Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” at No. 4; and Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season,” in fifth place. “Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023),” a greatest-hits compilation by Linkin Park, opens at No. 6.
