UPDATED 7/24, 5:45 p.m. ET: Pop Smoke has secured another No. 1 album.
On Saturday, Hits Daily Double confirmed the rapper’s Faith project debuted at the top of the Hits 50 chart with nearly 91,000 units moved. The posthumous effort was followed by John Mayer’s Sob Rock and Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, which sold 86,703 and 76,755 units, respectively.
See the original story from 7/17/21 below.
Pop Smoke is on track to secure another No. 1 album.
According to projections published by Hits Daily Double, the rapper’s second posthumous album, Faith, is expected to top the Billboard 200 in its first week. The 20-track project will likely move between 110,000 to 120,000 album equivalent units, 4,000 to 6,000 of which will be in traditional sales.
Faith arrived about a year after the release of Pop’s debut effort, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, which also debuted at the No. 1 slot with 251,000 units. And just like its first album, Pop’s sophomore project was stacked with big-name features, including everyone from Kid Cudi, Rick Ross, 21 Savage, Kanye West, Pusha-T, and Dua Lipa.
During an interview with Angie Martinez this week, Pop’s mom, Audrey Jackson, admitted she had never heard Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, which dropped just several months after the rapper was fatally shot last year in Southern California. She told Martinez she couldn’t bring herself to listen to the album because “it’s a part of the immediate loss.”
“With the new album it’s easier to hear his voice,” she explained. “I don’t know if it’s because time has passed or he does sound different on this. His sound, his style, it’s different.”
John Mayer’s eighth studio album, Sob Rock, is expected to debut in the top 3. The record is projected to pull 70,000 to 80,000 units (50,000 to 60,000 in pure album sales), but may lose the No. 2 spot to Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour.
