Kendrick Lamar Heading for Second No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With ‘Untitled’
On next week's Billboard 200 chart, watch for Kendrick Lamar to notch his second No. 1 with the surprise album "Untitled Unmastered."
On next week’s Billboard 200 chart, watch for Kendrick Lamar to notch his second No. 1 with the surprise album Untitled Unmastered. Industry forecasters suggest the set, which was released March 4, could earn over 170,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 10. Of that sum, perhaps 130,000 to 140,000 could be pure album sales.
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 March 26-dated Billboard 200 chart (where Lamar is aiming for No. 1) is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s websites on Sunday, March 13.
Untitled Unmastered follows Lamar’s first No. 1, To Pimp a Butterfly, which was released on March 16, 2015, after little advance notice. To Pimp a Butterfly flew in at No. 1 with 363,000 equivalent album units in its first week, of which 324,000 were in pure album sales.
Lamar tweeted that the new Untitled Umastered album consists of “demos from To Pimp a Butterfly. In raw form.” Like the album’s title, its tracks are named unconventionally: “untitled 01 | 08.19.2014.,” “untitled 02 | 06.23.2014.,” and so on.
Untitled Unmastered was released to digital retailers and streaming services on March 4. A physical CD release of its explicit edition will follow on March 11, while an edited version is due out March 18.
Other albums aiming for high debuts on the new Billboard 200 include 2 Chainz’s ColleGrove (which may shift around 50,000 units) and Granger Smith’s Remington (possibly 30,000).
2 Chainz’s new album — which features Lil Wayne on eight of its 12 tracks — like Lamar’s new set, is currently only available via digital retail and streaming services. A commercial release for its physical CD is slated for March 25, when both its explicit and edited editions are due.