Team Drizzy has a bone to pick with veteran country music star, Kenny Chesney, who just pulled a slimy move after securing the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart with his new album, Here and Now. Earlier this week, it was announced that Drake's new mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, had debuted at No. 2 with 223,000 equivalent album units, roughly 10,000 units shy of Kenny's 233,000. This chart position marked the end of Drake's decade-long, nine-project streak of No. 1 debuts, which was devastating enough for fans, but the news that Kenny hadn't exactly played fair made it even worse.
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To boost his album sales, Kenny offered a ticket bundle deal for his already-cancelled Chillaxifcation Tour. While the tour had been halted as a result of the pandemic, Kenny was hopeful that he'd be able to hit the road by May 30th, thus offering the sales bundle with the hopes that the tour would be back on soon. However, days after securing the No. 1 spot, Kenny postponed the tour once more until 2021, essentially scheming his way into more album sales by offering a bundle for a tour that would not be happening anytime soon.
Drake fans are not happy, especially since the rapper's album garnered a whopping on-demand 269 million streams, while Here and Now only generated a measly 13.4 million. The theory is that Kenny would never have landed that No. 1 spot had he not engaged in the controversial act of sales bundling, which Drake did not even have to resort to in order to get high sales numbers. Check out fans' reactions below, some of which include a call on Billboard to adjust the ways they measure album sales in order to exclude the use of ticket bundles.
Drake Lands At No. 2 Spot On Billboard Chart, Losing To Kenny Chesney
Drake lost to Kenny Chesney for the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart this week.
Drake‘s Dark Lane Demo Tapes debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 this week, ending a decade-long streak of debuting atop the charts.
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The project was topped by Kenny Chesney’s new album, Here and Now. Drake’s project sold 223,000 equivalent album units. 201,000 were from streams. The rapper did not capitalize on any merchandise/album bundles, nor a concert ticket/album bundle. There were also no options to purchase a physical copy of the album. Drake’s previous project Care Package was released in the same fashion.
Chesney’s album secured 233,000 equivalent album units. Here and Now was consumed in an opposite manner than Drake’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes. Chesney’s work saw 222,000 in album sales and only 10,000 streaming units.
Drake spoke about his decision to release Dark Lane Demo Tapes, during an episode of Young Money Radio, with Lil Wayne: “We pieced a lot of those songs together and I put a few new joints on there, but really it was just instead of dropping a single right now,” he said. “It’s an interesting time for us all as musicians to figure out how this works and what people need. And I just felt like people would appreciate maybe a body of something to listen to as opposed to just one isolated song.”
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Drake’s "Dark Lane Demo Tapes" At Risk Of Not Debuting At No. 1
Drake’s new mixtape, “Dark Lane Demo Tapes,” may get beaten out by country superstar Kenny Chesney’s new album “Here & Now” for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart.
Drake‘s new mixtape, Dark Lane Demo Tapes, could potentially not be debuting at No. 1, if country superstar Kenny Chesney beats him for the top spot with his new album, Here and Now. When Drake dropped his new tape at midnight on Friday, it was, for the most part, a surprise. Although there were whispers of a new Drake project dropping the day before, he had put in zero promo work for DLDT, which is comprised of both previously released or leaked tracks, and some new, never-before-heard joints. The official numbers will be in next week, but while Drake is almost always a shoe-in for a No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, he’s got some close competition this time in the form of a veteran country singer.
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According to a report from HitsDailyDouble on Saturday (May 2nd), Drake’s Dark Lane Demo Tapes is projected to move between 230,000 to 255,000 equivalent album units, while Kenny Chesney’s expected to rake in 220,000 to 235,000 with his new album, Here and Now. These close quarters mean that Drizzy is at risk of failing to top the charts if Kenny does exceptionally well, and those country music fans are persistent. In fact, a whopping 210-220k of the Tennessee artist’s units are from pure album sales.
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If Drake does end up losing to Mr. Chesney, that would break his undefeated streak of No. 1 solo debuts thus far. As pointed out by XXL, every single solo Drake project since 2009’s So Far Gone, along with his 2015 joint mixtape with Future, What A Time To Be Alive, up until now has debuted in the top spot. The official results will be announced next week, so fingers crossed for hip hop fans that Drake comes out on top.
