Drake Expected to Sell 400K In First Week

Drake might have problems entering certain events these days, but this doesn’t mean that the love is all lost for him. On the contrary, Drake is up for a monster week as the first chart numbers roll in. Following its surprise release to iTunes on Thursday night, Drizzy’s mixtape/album If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late is expected to sell as many as 400,000 copies by Sunday night. As Billboard points out, the 17-track project, is in the run for No. 1 on the Billboard 200, outselling the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. HITS Daily Double’s predictions indicate that the sales could reach as high as 500,000.

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. It would also mark 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.

By comparison, Beyoncé’s 2013 surprise album sold 617,000 in its first three days on iTunes.