Billboard: 'Yeezus' tops chart, despite disappointing sales - Report

By Nick Roman ·

Credit: Rap-Up.com

Kanye West's "Yeezus" topped the Billboard 200 chart this week, with 327,000 units sold. This marks the third-largest chart debut of the year, falling only below Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience" (968,000) and Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" (339,000).

However, despite a chart-topping debut, "Yeezus" fell well below the 500,000 sales projected within the industry. Some are attributing this to the fact that the album had no radio-ready lead single. In addition, the album leaked online only days before release, offering another possible detriment to the album's sales prospects.

As for other debuts, J. Cole sailed past expectations with "Born Sinner," which sold 100,000 copies more than 150,000-200,000 forecast. With 297,000 copies sold, this counts as J. Cole's best sales week ever, and is the largest No. 2 debut since Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" (375,000) on Dec. 11, 2010.

In third place, behind Cole, is the debut album of rapper Mac Miller. "Watching Movies With the Sound Off" sold 102,000 copies.

In fourth is Kelly Rowland's fourth studio album, "Talk a Good Game," which sold 68,000 copies. This is Rowland's third top 10 appearance, though it's her smallest start, dropping below the 77,000 of her last album, 2011's No. 3-debut, "Here I Am."

Meanwhile, last week's #1 album, Black Sabbath's "13," slips to #5 with 46,000 copies sold.

Here is the rest of this week's top ten, via Billboard:

1. Kanye West, "Yeezus" (327,000 copies)
2. J. Cole, "Born Sinner" (297,000 copies)
3. Mac Miller, "Watching Movies With the Sound Off" (102,000 copies)
4. Kelly Rowland, "Talk A Good Game" (68,000 copies)
5. Black Sabbath, "13" (46,000 copies)
6. Daft Punk, "Random Access Memories" (40,000 copies)
7. Hunter Hayes, "Hunter Hayes" (just under 40,000 copies)
8. Florida Georgia Line's "Here's to the Good Times" (33,000 copies)
9. Justin Timberlake "The 20/20 Experience" (32,000 copies)
10. Imagine Dragons' "Night Visions" rises 11-10 with 26,000 (down 7%)

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