Joey Bada$$ has come out of his X hiatus with some thoughts about first-week album sales.
The Brooklyn rapper took to the social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday night (November 20) to claim that first-week figures “don’t matter anymore.”
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Joey argued that Billboard charts don’t reflect the reality of the streaming era and told fans to “shut the fuck up and enjoy the music.”
“It’s been a minute, hey guys. I’m back,” he began. “I feel really compelled to say: Fuck first week sales. They simply don’t matter anymore for the simple fact that no one is buying albums. I mean, when’s the last time anyone you know bought an album?
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“We all can stream anything we want but in order for it to count as an album sale you need to listen to every song like 1000+ times. They trynna make it seem like everybody flopping when it reality they changed the rules.”
He continued: “So someone plz tell me why the fuck is anybody still worried about that? They trynna take the power from the musician because they never learned how to measure influence properly. At this point, just shut the fuck up and enjoy the music.”
Joey Bada$$ — whose most recent album, 2000, earned 22,000 album-equivalent units in its opening week — also addressed those who claimed his comments were simply to deflect from his own sales figures.
“For all the people saying ‘he’s only saying that because he’s not doing good first week numbers,’ first of all that’s subjective nowadays unless you’re Drake or Taylor Swift level,” he said. “Second of all, do your googles I been packing out venues since inception and will continue to do so.
“I have always had a loyal fan base that have always supported me, even after taking 5 years off… STILL came back and sold out 1500-3500 cap rooms ALL OVER THE WORLD. Something that a lot of your favorite mainstream acts can’t do. So please don’t shoot the messenger. I been in my own lane and I love it here.”
The Pro Era co-founder later revealed that his new album is set to be released in early 2024, but told fans to not be disappointed if there’s a delay.
“Btw, while I’m here I’m shooting for the next album to drop Q1 top of next year,” he added. “That is my full intention and I’m very close to completion but life be lifeing so don’t hate me if shit get slid back. I’m home for the holidays and haven’t started shooting music videos yet.”
Cordae also recently touched on the topic of first-week figures during his appearance on The Shop: Uninterrupted in March, echoing Joey Bada$$’ comments about ticket sales being important than album sales.
“I think one of my greatest assets is, I try to look at all things with no ego, like from an outside perspective,” he said. “So I could be like, ‘Okay, they might sell more records than me,’ or just try to think of it.
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“But when I look at it, ‘Okay, well actually, I’ve sold more records than this person. They had to spend less money on me for me to sell these amount of records. I sell way more hard tickets.’ I value my hard ticket sales way over a first-week number.”
