The first week numbers are in, and it looks like Bryson Tiller dropping his second album, True to Self, way earlier than expected didn't hurt one bit on the Billboard 200 album chart. His sophomore effort has sold 107,000 equivalent album units in the week ending June 1, with 47,000 consisting of traditional album sales. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar's Damn sticks close by at No. 2, selling 84,000 units.
Back in May, Tiller released three new songs—"Honey," "Somethin Tells Me," and "Get Mine"—and an album release date of June 23. On May 26, Bryson surprised everyone when True to Self popped up out of nowhere. Did something go wrong? Did messages get mixed up?
The Louisville, Kentucky native says he simply forgot that the album was going to come out early. "I can’t take the credit for that. It was just my manager; it was his plan [to] drop it a month early. I’ve been ready to get the music to the fans as soon as possible, so why not?" Tiller toldBillboard. "We planned it for a while. I actually forgot it was coming out early. Then they told me [last] week like, 'Yo! You know it comes out this Friday?'”
So far, True to Self is outperforming his first album, Trapsoul, which only managed to peak on January 2016 at No. 8. Tiller's debut project ended up earning 1.6 million equivalent album units, 441,000 of which were traditional album sales. Pen Griffey could very well exceed those album sale numbers as well.
