Wed 17 Aug 2011
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s ‘Watch The Throne’ Sells 436,078, Breaking an iTunes Record
Posted by Mikey Fresh under new music , quotes , Uncategorized[28] Comments
Billboard has confirmed the first week sales of Watch The Throne. According to Nielson Soundscan, Jay and Kanye sold 436,078 copies in total, including both digital and physical CD sales. 321,000 of those units were through downloads. They also broke iTunes records for first week sales with 290,000 downloads, beating out Coldplay’s previous record set in 2008 with their LP, Viva La Vida.
WTT marks the 12th #1 album debut at Soundscan by Jay-Z, and the 5th #1 album debut by Kanye West.
more WTT coverage links after the jump…
Screengrab of the Soundscan sheet…
Also,this past Sunday Jay-Z celebrated the release of Watch The Throne at Miami’s LIV nightclub. While Kanye West had a prior commitment to perform in Europe, Jay-Z’s appeared for a brief moment setting a new record bypassing Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s $115,000 tab by spending a reported $250,000 worth of Ace of Spades champagne.
The Latest WTT Coverage Links:
VIBE’s video footage of the bottles
The World Red Eye’s Club Liv Recap
How The Throne Beats the Leaks via Billboard
Previously: Jay-Z On ‘Watch The Throne’: “We Wanted To Take It Back To That Listening Experience We Had” | Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Memphis Bleek and More Hit Up The ‘Watch The Throne’ Pop-Up Shop (Photos) | Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Otis” Video…and Miss Info’s ‘Watch The Throne’ Wrap-up
August 17th, 2011 at 10:18 am
I thought all of Kanye’s albums went #1 or is 808s that one runt of the litter?
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SavannahChitlinPimp Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 10:32 am
College Dropout didn’t go #1. It was behind Norah Jones I believe.
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Banko Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Sooo 12 #1′s for Jazzy and still only one number one hit record!! hahah Okay…
Kanye has a legit 3-4 classics under his belt and a few Number one records…
Jazzy would like us to believe he’s the best because he dropped an album a year blah blah and that top singles dont mean anything but truth is he wasnt good enough to go away for 4yrs like Em and then move 7Million units world wide on 2 albums in 12 months and those people with #1 singles actually made everyone pay attention to them at the same time Jazzy can only say that once so IMO that makes him the most consistent one hit wonder in American history!
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sean Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 11:27 am
i can just see hate in your word trying hard to fine something to hate
smh
SavannahChitlinPimp Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
You know you’re stupid for this comment right? How do you hate on a nigga 3 #1 albums away from Elvis and two over the fucking Beatles!
Malik Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Three or four classics? What? All of his albums except Graduation need like 15-20 minutes trimmed off. He has too much filler on his albums to be able to create a classic album.
Kanye only has 1 more number 1 single than Jay, so yeah.
August 17th, 2011 at 10:47 am
Hmm.. i thought it was going to sell more first week. i thought it would sell closer to 700,000 since it had kanye & jay-z plus it basically got good reveiws from everyone. It probably will still go plat maybe twice lol.
sidenote Games R.E.D. Album is dope now i just gotta hear that carter 4 and WU-BLOCK lol
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Banko Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 11:07 am
Yup Kanye could have done that 436k on his own hahaha
He aint need Jazzy for that.. thats why he in London somewhere and Jazzy is go knows where hahaha
Kanye is a lot like 50 it will be a matter of time before Kanye shiit on Jazzy hahahah ooo I cant wait..lol
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candy Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
well jay beat wifey and that horrid 4
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Young Scuba Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 10:25 am
Tell me why u mad tho, did Jay touch u when u were little?
Kanye has been 100% loyal to Jay for 8 years so I don’t see that changing anytime soon
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HE IS ME AND I AM HIM Reply:
August 22nd, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Yall don’t know banko is actual Beans(after the money done gone)…Listen to the hate of a broke dude!!!!!!!!
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Corporate Takeover Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 6:26 pm
I think the initial sales for this album are gonna be a little complex, since it was just on iTunes Mon-Thurs, then released via CD on Friday so people only had 3 days outside of iTunes to buy.
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candy Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
the ‘exclusive’ bullshit at best buy hurt the sells imo, if they released the album openly i think i woulda did 700k
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August 17th, 2011 at 11:13 am
well reguardless of how wack people think the album is and blah blah balh this is what jigga envision and thats why he always win cuz he sell records even when the music industry start takin a mean hit cuz of leaks and alot of kats who use to sell records dont do it like they use to he is one of the few that kept selling records… so hate him or love him he gets the job done (big daddy kane voice) ….
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August 17th, 2011 at 11:29 am
I thougth the number would be biigger based on both of there fan base
but i guess lot there fan wanted a hardcopy and want store late in week didn’t help
maybe the itunes leak free didn’t work as well as they tougth see how it all over the web 10 min later to download
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August 17th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Here we go again. lol Those numbers are impressive I dont care what you say.
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August 17th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
They broke iTunes records for first week sales. I’m sure they’re not too disappointed. Also, take into account the hard copy has only been available 3 DAYS! (The cut off is Monday for sales). I’m sure they will continue to do well. And considering some of people’s favorite artists best efforts barely push 400,000 total, I don’t see how this is is not good numbers.
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August 17th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
anything over 300,000 is a success in todays standards. so now Hov has 12 #1″s. common and nas can’t even sell that. how about em’s and royce recent release that wasn’t even em normal numbers. But regardless it sold less than 200,000 first week its still succesful… The only guys that can sell similar or higher would be a wayne and drake together….and carter 4 will not sell more than 500,000 first week. drake album only girls and metrosexuals are checking for that. ti aint selling no more. flame’s “rainbow” album aint even gonna bulge 175,000. thinking 98,000. Flame is a lyrical/battle rapper.. I would never spend 10 on his album. He’s a “freedownload/bootleg” kinda artist.
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August 17th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
impressive numbers for a not very impressive album.
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August 17th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
would like to see a JAY/NAS/EM/WAYNE ON A RECORD TOGETHER. CALL IT “FANTASTIC 4″. STRAIGHT BAR FOR BAR MURDER ANYTHING MOVING kinda record. A single of this magnitude would rock the whole music genre. 4 vets with extensive catalogs. It would be the most talked about record in years. Cause I daught any one of these guys are gonna spit some flunky bullsit. COMPETION would be incredible. And for years to come be a well talked about record and who ate who etc.
Jay-Z need to bring that hardshit back, Nas needs to stop being LAIDBACK, Em needs to be challenged and Wayne just needs to realize that he really isnt any better than any one of these guys.
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Young Scuba Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 10:28 am
that would be legendary but that will never happen, and Wayne ain’t what he used to be so I’d ex him out of that collab
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Nightfall Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Plus that “Fantastic 4″ concept was done twice already on Dj Clue’s Professional Albums
The thing is all these great already had their years of Competition. Jay used to get at anyone that said his name, Nas spit vs Rocefella solo, Em has always loved under status and Wayne……well, Wayne’s smart enough not it really get in lyrical beefs.
You’d have to press some serious buttons to make those guys act out of character.
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August 17th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Who cares how much they sold, talk about how it sounds like a pop record with a couple hip hop songs on it!!!!!!!
Stand up for the culture fuck a check- KRS1
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Corporate Takeover Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
what tracks would you consider pop? Just curious. The Beyonce one would be the only 1 imo.
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Angry Gillmore Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 10:41 pm
You strike a good point, But in all fairness @ least they kept it conceptual and drew a line within certain songs. There are a few mainstream songs. Sometimes as a fan I want the raw rap no pop, but I have to be honest with myself it is about sales & they do need record friendly tunes cause they do cater to the entire U.S and other countries as well.
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August 17th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
talk about the new wu tang or black rob or kool g rap or blaq poet or…………..
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August 17th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
i don’t think combo album counts on the count the number album list
i’m pretty sure does 2 with r,kelly didn’t coming as number 1′s
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Angry Gillmore Reply:
August 17th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I find that interesting though they never combine the digital sales with the actual sales within the sales scan. Why haven’t they yet? beats me. I guess to keep the illusion of actually purchasing a physical copy alive.
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