Lil Yachty and G Herbo both came through with projects on Friday and it's safe to say that fans were both excited and satisfied. Yachty came through with his highly-anticipated Lil Boat 3 tape while Herbo dropped the deluxe version of PTSD. There is plenty of music here to dissect and over the last couple of days, fans have been adding their favorite tracks to their respective playlists.

Regardless of how good the music is, sales are always something that is highly debated in the industry. Your first week numbers can give people a glimpse of how well you're doing although there are many factors that go into how many units are sold. Having said that, according to DJ Akademiks, Lil Boat 3 is on track to sell 45K units in the first week while PTSD Deluxe is on pace for 27K units.

Music fans are starting to think about how the Billboard Hot 100 will look in a week’s time when Tekashi 6ix9ine‘s “GOOBA” and Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande‘s “Stuck With U” both debut on the chart. However, there is also a fight happening on the Billboard 200 with three new projects looking to grab that top spot. 

Last week, we saw new albums from NAV (Good Intentions), Kehlani (It Was Good Until It Wasn’t), and Lil Durk (Just Cause Y’all Waited 2). All three had hoped to debut at the top spot but only one of them is looking to have a credible possibility of capturing that position.

According to Hits Daily Double, NAV is leading the way as far as new releases go. His album Good Intentions is poised to move approximately 70-75K equivalent album units. With the deluxe version arriving today, that number may even go up a touch. 

Kehlani is next in line, earning a strong first week with around 60-65K equivalent album units moved. 

Finally, Lil Durk ends up in third place, moving approximately 45-50K units. 

Of course, NAV may not end up debuting at the top spot on the Billboard 200. Drake‘s Dark Lane Demo Tapes previously peaked at #2 behind Kenny Chesney and there is a chance that his mixtape sells enough in its second week out for it to move up a spot.

Congratulations to all three debuting artists on the Billboard 200.

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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.

PARTYNEXTDOOR and Joyner Lucas both released their highly-anticipated new albums last week but, according to the first-week sales projections, neither will have a strong enough week to take The Weekndout of the top spot on the charts.

Despite all the excitement surrounding PARTYMOBILE and ADHD, it would appear as though neither one of those projects will have what it takes to dethrone The Weeknd as the Canadian crooner seems poised to spend another week at No. 1. According to Billboard, After Hours is likely to earn an additional 100,000 album units in its second week out. While it is still early to tell, that should be enough to keep him at the front of the pack.

His competition includes the new releases from Dua Lipa, Pearl Jam, and 5 Seconds Of Summer. All of those are set to debut higher than PND and Joyner.

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As it pertains to PARTYMOBILE, which features Drake and Rihanna, the latest OVO Sound release is looking at a start of approximately 45,000 album units moved. Joyner Lucas will likely finish right behind the singer with 30,000 sales figures.

Do you think these are good numbers for PARTYNEXTDOOR and Joyner Lucas? With The Weeknd looking set for another week at the head of his kingdom, who do you think will end up dethroning him?

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Nike has seen an increase in its sales as more and more purchases are made online since shoppers are confined to their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nike’s digital sales went up by more than 30% in Greater China thanks to the widespread quarantine. However, their physical sales dropped by 5% as a result of store closures nationwide.

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The brand made the decision to close all of its stores across not only China, but the U.S. and Europe earlier this month as well, as a safety measure amid the spread of coronavirus. “At a time when people were confined to their homes,” said Chief Executive John Donahoe, “we moved swiftly to leverage our digital app ecosystem and Nike Expert Trainer network.” As a result of these improvements, overall digital sales grew 36% in the third quarter, which concluded on February 29th, 2020. This equates to nearly a tenth of the company’s overall revenue in the fiscal year of 2019. Total revenue rose 5.1 % to a whopping $10.10 billion in the third quarter, beating the average analyst estimate of $9.80 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Now, a reported 80% of Nike stores have reopened in China, with the region’s current-quarter sales expected to be flat.

Donald Glover became one of the most sought after entertainers in Hollywood in the past few years but still, he’s found time to make music under the moniker Childish Gambino. The anticipation for the follow-up to 2016’s Awaken, My Love! has been real, though “This Is America” and “Feel Like Summer” held us over since 2018.

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On Sunday, his surprise new album 3.15.20 arrived on streaming platforms with no notice or acknowledgment really. The week prior to releasing the project, he debuted the project on his website but that was swiftly taken down. The peculiar roll-out could have played a factor in the project’s first-week sales projections. According to Hits Daily Double, Childish Gambino’s new project is currently pacing to sell 25-28K in its first week and aiming to debut at number 11 on the Billboard 200. Out of those numbers, 4-5k is likely to come from pure sales. This is a major drop from the first week sales for Awaken, My Love! which did 101K in its first week. However, Gambino did decide to release the project in the most unconventional manner in the midst of a pandemic.

The Weeknd‘s After Hours sales projections have increased with the possibility that he scores his largest debut to date, surpassing Beauty Behind The Madness. His new album is expected to sell 400-425K with 245-265K coming from pure sales.  

In the midst of this global pandemic, The Weeknd decided to come through the other day and release his highly anticipated album After Hours, which looks to be on its way to being the #1 album in the country.

According to Hits Double Daily, After Hours is on track to move more than 400,000 album equivalent units in its first week. Of those units, more than 200,000 are expected to come from traditional album sales. If these projections hold true, After Hours could very well be the biggest debut of 2020, surpassing BTS' Map of the Soul: 7, which earned 422,000 units in its first week.

Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke was tragically murdered last week in the Hollywood Hills just days after releasing his most-consumed project to date, Meet The Woo 2. At the time of his death, Smoke was at the height of his popularity, only continuing to open more eyes to his version of drill rap. Experiencing solid first-week numbers, the rapper was beginning to hit his stride and critics were excited to hear what the 20-year-old would come up with next. As we all know now, his story came to an abrupt end but that doesn't mean that his music will lose its appeal. In fact, it has surged even higher since his death and, in a new sales projection report, Meet The Woo 2 is expected to match its first-week numbers in its second week out.

It was a good week in new music releases, which spanned across several genres with album drops from A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Justin Bieber, Tame Impala, $uicideboy$, and more all coming through with full-length bodies of work. With so much to divulge, fans were busy on their streaming service of choice hitting the replay button on their favorite offerings of the week and, today, a projection for who will score the highest-performing album from last week has been released.

Hits Daily Double rarely misses with this sort of information and, today, they’re reporting that Justin Bieber and his new album Changes will land on top of all other new releases in the upcoming sales race. Moving up to 320,000 equivalent album units (with the majority of which coming from merch bundles), Justin Bieber will comfortably debut at the top spot on the next chart, dethroning Roddy Ricch. The Compton product will probably find his way back there at some point in the near future, though.

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Following up Biebs will be A Boogie wit da Hoodie, who continues to prove why he’s one of the most highly-touted artists out of the Bronx right now. Up to 130,000 equivalent album units will be streamed of his Artist 2.0 display, which gives him the strongest rap debut of the week. $uicideboy$ are set for 21,000 units while, on another side of the spectrum, Tame Impala has the third-highest start with approximately 90,000 units moved.

Which album were you rocking with the most this weekend?