UPDATED 7/5 4:30 p.m. ET: Coi Leray has shared a screenshot of a tweet addressing her first week of sales, which she said is "very important."
"First-week sales is an outdated metric in the streaming era," read the tweet from @JessePsota, which Leray asked her fans to read. "The spotlight should be on @coi-leray's steady hits, impressive body of work, and powerful digital influence. This is the age where playlists, streams, fan engagement, and social media presence are the true indicators of an artist's success."
The tweet asked people to consider that huge numbers of streams doesn't automatically guarantee chart success. 1,250 premium streams or 3,750 ad-supported streams make up just one album-equivalent unit. "In 2022, she amassed over 500M streams in the US and captivated 38.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone," continued the tweet.
Coi Leray is still one of the most listened to female rappers on Spotify with over 38 million monthly listeners, an impressive stat regardless of the performance of her new album Coi.
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Coi Leray has expressed gratitude to her fans after her second album Coi debuted at No. 102 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
"Grateful to have an album on the top 200 for my first week of my album release, again," wrote Leray—who does, it's worth noting, have 38.2 million monthly Spotify streams—in a tweet on Monday. "This time with 3 hits on the Hot 100 ... woah 🤯. I'm super proud of myself. Bigger and better year every time. Keep streaming #COI ... It's an AMAZING project!"
Per Chart Data, Coi debuted on the album chart with approximately 10,000 album-equivalent units in its first week of availability. Her first studio album, Trendsetter, peaked at No. 89 on the same charter when it was released in April 2022, with 11,500 album-equivalent units in its first week.
While the first-week album numbers weren't astronomical, that hasn't stopped several of her songs from sticking around on the Billboard Hot 100. "Players," which peaked at No. 9 in its 25 weeks on the chart, has proved to have staying power, now sitting at No. 48. Her Metro Boomin collaboration "Self Love" on the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack sits at No. 61, while the David Guetta collab single "Baby Don't Hurt Me" is at No. 79.
Boosie Badazz and Trinidad James were among the people who shouted out Coi's talent on Monday.
"[Coi Leray] should have sold at least 100k the first week. 'nobody recent got more hits than her' either this shit rigged r celebrity kids just get hated on when its time to swipe," Boosie, 40, wrote. "mfs be haters str8 up‼️ my fam go through the same shit💯 we aint stopping tho believe that🖕🏽."
Last month, Leray made a push for some of the most popular women in hip-hop to come together for a big-time collaboration to give 2023 its first No. 1 rap song. So far this year there hasn't been a No. 1 on either the Hot 100 songs chart or the Billboard 200 albums chart, although Young Thug's new project Business is Business is going to at least come close if the first-week projections hold.
“Ain’t been a [No. 1] rap song at all this year,” Leray tweeted in June. “Calling all the female rappers to front. [Hear] me out. ladies night. Hip hop. Unity. Let's make history with a number 1...together..with love. #justanidea.”
Leray further pushed her idea to unite women in rap during her performance at the BET Awards 2023 by sporting a jacket that featured many iconic and up-and-coming names, including BIA, Def Loaf, Nicki Minaj, Latto, GloRilla, Cardi B, Ice Spice, Missy Elliott, and others.
