Nah Right talks about Drake’s Thank Me Later sales. It reportedly sold sold 462,989 copies.
Hype is a helluva drug. It clouds the judgement of rappers, fans and critics alike. It can also hurt just as much as it can help, if not more. If Drake wasn’t so over hyped, this 462K he did would seem like an epic debut. But with expectations what they were, anything short of a million first week will be viewed by many as a failure. Which is completely absurd. To put things in perspective, Jay-Z, arguably the most famous rapper living, did 475K his first week out with Blueprint 3. And you’re out of your mind if you think this Drake album isn’t eventually going platinum.
The album really grew on me after a few listens and I find myself going back to some of the first leaked tracks and enjoying them again. Eskay says he tolerates the singing on Thank Me Later more than the singing on So Far Gone. I agree with that. I pretty much skipped all the singing tracks on So Far Gone but I really like “Karaoke” and “Shut it Down” (which really grew on me because I didn’t want to listen to it at all when it leaked on its lonesome).
So what does all of this mean for the music industry? Probably nothing except that it’s just as hard to sell records as it was last year and the year before, and that the Carter 3 numbers were an anomaly.
I was thinking about how much exposure Thank Me later had on its release and it seemed like a lot of people were listening to it. But then I remembered what it was like when Tha Carter III came out and it seemed like everyone was listening to it. My guess is Kanye’s going to do huge numbers with his next album. Graduation did 957,000 its first week and 808s & Heartbreak did 450,145 its first week and that was all singing. Unless all his antics (before becoming a studio hermit) hurt the public’s perception of him more than I think it did.