Here Are the First Week Projections for The Weeknd’s New Album ‘Dawn FM’ and Gunna's 'DS4EVER' (UPDATE)

On Friday, The Weeknd unveiled 'Dawn FM,' avoiding any lengthy rollouts after announcing the album and swiftly giving fans exactly what they wanted.

The Weeknd attends the Music In Action Awards Ceremony
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Photo by Leon Bennett/WireImage via Getty Images

The Weeknd attends the Music In Action Awards Ceremony

UPDATED 1/12, 10:40 a.m. ET: Gunna’s DS4EVER is being projected by Hits Daily Double to move an impressive 144,000 equivalent album units in its first week, with 3,000 of those estimated to be traditional album sales. The record features appearances from Lil Baby, Young Thug, Future, Kodak Black, Roddy Ricch, and more.

The same report has updated The Weeknd’s Dawn FM estimate to 157,000 equivalent album units with 15,000 in traditional sales.

See original story below.

The Weeknd has yet another win to celebrate.

It’s been three days since he unleashed his latest LP Dawn FM, avoiding any lengthy rollouts after announcing the project and swiftly giving fans exactly what they wanted. It seems that strategy is expected to work out commercially, as his new effort is positioned to earn somewhere between 150,000 and 170,000 equivalent album units in its first week, per Hits Daily Double, all without any first-week physical release available to purchase. 

The projections come as the critically acclaimed Dawn FM brought in 60 million streams on Spotify in its first 24 hours, matching that of The Weeknd’s previous project After Hours and already topping 100 million streams since.  

To weigh Dawn FM against other recent successes, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy earned 613,000 equivalent album units first week, Kanye West’s Donda brought in 309,000, and The Weeknd’s After Hours earned 444,000. While Dawn FM isn’t seeing anywhere near 444,000 units just yet, Abel tweeted before the release that first-week sales aren’t important to him this time around. 

“This doesn’t matter to me,” The Weeknd responded to a fan in a recent quote-tweet. “What matters is getting to experience the album together with the fans during these times.”

On Monday, Abel Tesfaye also seemingly addressed those who’ve called the project “weird,” or maybe just those who use the term “weird,” writing that “even in the beginning…don’t forget it was always weird.”

“Which side of XO history do you want be on? don’t get left behind, follow me into the light,” he tweeted. “i see everything…since the beginning. you’re obsessing over what you hated. enjoy where we are…look what was given to us.”

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