Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' Rakes in Over Seven Figures, Sits Pretty Atop 'Billboard' Chart
To the independent goes the spoils.
Following a four-year hiatus, swarms upon swarms of jittery fans finally got a chance to rejoice when Frank Ocean dropped Blonde this past August 20. In just a week and a half, the album saw 232,000 in sales and over 65 million streams stateside. Not to mention, it’s currently sitting pretty atop the Billboard charts. Despite nabbing the number one spot in the distinguished music chart, the Blonde bombshell is perhaps more esteemed for its surreptitious path to glory. In an exclusive agreement with Apple, Ocean released the album independently. Before that, the New Orleans-born singer seemingly satisfied his contractual obligation to Def Jam by launching his extensive Endless visual.
Billboard reports:
So far, Blonde has generated about $2.12 million USD in total, according to Billboard’s estimate. (Note that the following tallies are based on the assumption that Ocean is receiving 70 percent of revenues, since Blonde was self-released – in a major fiscal coup for the artist.) Of that first week cash, Ocean would have made $1.623 million USD off 232,000 album sales, and about $504,000 on 69.1 million USD streams.
How long will Ocean’s album reign number one? More importantly, can Ocean’s tour de force of musical independence be repeated without facing legal repercussions?
