J. Cole scores best sales week of 2018, sets Hot 100 record: Comment from Music Biz President James Donio

James Donio, President of the Music Business Association (Music Biz), commented on this week’s sales numbers issued by Nielsen (published by Billboard – albums, singles) and BuzzAngle Music (published by HITS Daily Double – albums).

“J. Cole scored another major victory for Hip-Hop this week, moving over 394,000 album equivalent units of his new record KOD on the Nielsen and BuzzAngle Music charts to notch the best sales week of 2018 thus far. The album overtakes Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods for the honor, and is the best week for an album since Taylor Swift’s reputation in December 2017. KOD also overtakes Migos’ Culture II for the biggest streaming week of 2018 with over 215,000 streaming equivalent album (SEA) units and trails only Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and Drake’s More Life for best streaming week ever. Other major debuts came from Hard Rock act A Perfect Circle, which reached #3 on the Billboard 200 and #4 of the HITS Top 50 with Eat the Elephant, and Rock group Lord Huron, which hit #10 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the HITS Top 50 with Vide Noir.

“On the singles charts, Drake’s ‘Nice for What’ stays at #1 for a third week on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a historic week on the Hot 100, with four songs debuting in the Top 10 for the first time ever. Music Biz 2014 Breakthrough Artist Ariana Grande leads the fresh tracks with ‘No Tears Left to Cry’ at #3. Meanwhile, J. Cole added to his album sales victory by becoming the first artist to debut three tracks in the Hot 100 Top 10 at the same time with ‘ATM’ at #6, ‘Kevin’s Heart’ at #8, and ‘KOD’ at #10.

“Next week, we’ll see whether new releases from Post Malone, Keith Urban, Janelle Monáe, and Willie Nelson can crack the Top 10.”