Kacey Musgraves and Baby Keem are both set to debut in the Billboard 200’s top five following the release of their latest albums Star-Crossed and The Melodic Blue.
Per Hits Daily Double, Musgraves’ Star-Crossed is expected to get the biggest debut of the week with 60,000-70,000 album equivalent units, with 35-50K being pure album sales, and is likely to land at No. 3 behind Drake’s Certified Lover Boy and Kanye West’s Donda. Baby Keem could debut within the top five with The Melodic Blue, which is expected to bring in 50-55K album equivalent units, with 2,000-4,000 in pure album sales. That makes it the 20-year-old rapper’s biggest debut yet, with his previous release Die for My Bitch peaking at No. 196.
Keem’s inaugural album features appearances from his cousin Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and Don Toliver. In the weeks leading up to its release, Keem appeared on Donda and dropped his Kendrick collaboration “Family Ties.”
Keem’s projections arrive as the rapper shares his video for “First Order of Business,” which includes him sharing that he bought his grandmother a house with his “first million.”
As for how Kanye and Drake will perform in their third and second weeks, respectively, Certified Lover Boy had a stronger opening week than Donda. As reported over the weekend, CLB accumulated an impressive 613,000 album equivalent units in its first week, while Donda grossed 309K and debuted at No. 1. In its second week, Donda brought in 146,000 and stuck around at the No. 2 spot. Whether Musgraves will nudge out ’Ye for the No. 2 slot this week remains to be seen.
