‘Black Panther’ Soundtrack’s First Week Forecast Grows Bigger, Still Heading for No. 1 Debut
"Black Panther: The Album" is already on its way to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, but now industry prognosticators predict the album will start with an even larger figure than initially forecast.
Black Panther: The Album is already on its way to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, but now industry prognosticators predict the album will start with an even larger figure than initially forecast. The set may now earn over 150,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Feb. 15 — up from the set’s earlier forecast of 100,000 (on Feb. 12). The soundtrack — released on Feb. 9 via Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope Records — features music from and inspired by the new Marvel Studios film Black Panther, which opens in theaters on Feb. 16.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top 10 of the new Feb. 24, 2018-dated Billboard 200 chart (where Black Panther will likely debut at No. 1) is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s websites on Sunday, Feb. 18.
If Black Panther: The Album starts as expected, it will notch the biggest week for a soundtrack in a year-and-a-half. The last soundtrack to earn 150,000 units in a single week was Suicide Squad: The Album, when it bowed at No. 1 on the Aug. 27, 2016-dated chart with 182,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, according to Nielsen Music.
The Black Panther album includes five tracks featuring Kendrick Lamar — who curated and produced the album with Top Dawg Entertainment’s Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith — along with contributions by The Weeknd, SZA, Khalid and James Blake, among others.
The set has already launched a trio of hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100: The Weeknd and Lamar’s “Pray for Me” (which debuted at No. 7 on the Feb. 17-dated list), Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars” (which moves 54-31) and Jay Rock, Lamar, Future and Blake’s “King’s Dead” (99-69).
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