In a surprising twist, Playboi Carti’s latest album shot to the top of the Billboard 200 charts, but the rapper isn’t satisfied.
Carti’s third album, which finally dropped on March 14, soared to number one, achieving 298,000 equivalent units in its first week.
A huge chunk of these numbers, 283,000 units, came from 384 million on-demand streams, while the rest were pure album sales and track equivalent albums (TEA).
While this marks Carti’s biggest debut yet, he took to social media to claim the reported figure falls short. ‘320,’ he simply tweeted, hinting that the sales numbers should be higher.
Even before the album’s release, Carti expressed his displeasure about the counting methods, particularly regarding the omission of physical sales.
Billboard clarified that the album was only available as a digital download at first, with physical copies set to release later.
Despite the controversy, the album managed the second-largest debut across all genres this year, trailing only behind The Weeknd.
Projections suggest ‘Music’ will also perform well in its second week, potentially adding another 120,000-140,000 units.
While Playboi Carti basks in his chart-topping success, the numbers game remains a point of contention. Fans will keep their eyes on how sales evolve as physical copies hit the market.
