Frank Ocean‘s sophomore studio album has climbed its way back to the top slots of the Billboard 200 tally, securing its highest position in eight years.
Blonde was released to critical acclaim back in 2016, debuting atop said chart and generating 275,000 album-equivalent sales in its first week.
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With a number of A-list assists from the likes of Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell and André 3000, the record is widely regarded as one of the California native’s best work.
On Tuesday (May 28), Chart Data reported that the LP is currently sitting at No. 34 on the Billboard 200 rankings.
Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' returns to the top 40 on this week's Billboard 200 at #34
It earns its highest rank since its original run in 2016. pic.twitter.com/dHkor7nkZ4
— chart data (@chartdata) May 28, 2024
Whereas the 36-year-old singer hasn’t released much new music since Blonde, his value in the music space has remained the same. Prior to the release of his New Blue Sun album last year, André 3000 said he reached out to Frank and Tyler for feedback.
“So we’re sitting there and Frank [Ocean] just happened to drop by,” he said about going to the Flower Boy hitmaker’s house to play him new material. “So it’s us three sitting there listening to these three songs and I just kind of wanted to get an opinion. And it was just good for me to hear with somebody else.
“Because sometimes you can be in your own thing and think it’s a certain thing and you just want to have some outside… not that it really matters, because once you believe in it enough — I mean, I take criticism all the time, but it’s not like, ‘Hey, do you like it or not?’ It’s ‘How can we help it?'”
He added: “So at that point, I felt like we had something because we had a nice day just enjoying it in a way. And I started just playing it for friends and playing it for artists and playing it for people I respect or people who I felt would get it.”
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Regarding their reactions, 3 Stacks continued: “Tyler was staring at this thing that he has in his house. Like, he’s a fan of travel suitcases and so he has a wall of like travel suitcases. And he was like, ‘Man, I’ve been trying to figure out how to configure these like Louis [Vuitton] suitcases.’
“And he was listening to one of the songs and he was like, ‘It sounds like you’re chasing a butterfly through a garden and I figured it out. It helped me to figure out how to do this.’ And I think Frank pointed out one of his favorite tracks out of the three.
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“I was just happy to hear that, ’cause I respect them as musicians. Like new energy; they’re going for it, man. So I really respect their opinions. I play it for my homies. I play it for friends, play it for artists, directors — just to see their reaction more than anything. So I was just happy with what I was getting.”
