During his quest to put up some numbers on the court, J. Cole put up some even more impressive stats on the charts, finishing atop of the Billboard 200 this week with his latest album, The Off-Season.
The numbers are in, and Jermaine’s latest project earned 282,000 equivalent units sold in its first week, which breaks down to 37,000 album sales and 325.05 million on-demand streams of songs from the record. This marks the biggest week for a hip-hop project in 2021 and Cole’s sixth No. 1 album overall. It is also the largest streaming week for any album this year so far, according to MRC Data.
Hits Daily Double previously reported that the album was expected to gross between 280 and 310,000 in its first week, which would have put it on pace—or at least very close—to selling more copies than Taylor Swift’s Fearless rerelease and take the crown for best-selling week of 2021. And those projections only made sense, after “Interlude” alone debuted in the Hot 100’s top 10 last week.
But, despite not grossing more than Swift’s re-recording, Cole managed to continue his championship run with Jordan numbers for the sixth consecutive No. 1 album, following 2018’s KOD, 2016’s 4 Your Eyez Only, 2014’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 2013’s Born Sinner and 2011’s Cole World: The Sideline Story.
Apart from Cole’s The Off-Season, Nicki Minaj’s Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape finished in the second spot, gross 80,000 equivalent album units. Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain fell to No. 3.
