We have two weeks left to go in the year, and there is not one Platinum (in excess of a million copies) selling album for 2014. Heck, there is not even a Gold (in excess of 500,000 copies sold) album. Sales are getting pretty embarrassing in the Hip Hop world. It is so bad that Billboard has started adding streams, and singles sales to album sales. So, maybe Gold should just be seen as the new Platinum.
I guess the Internet is really a gift and a curse, as illegal downloads are really hurting album sales. I thought that Eminem's Shady compilation album (Shady XV) would come and save the day but in two weeks it has only sold 170k...not even up to the first week sales of Rick Ross's "Mastermind" album earlier this week. Iggy Azalea's The New Classic album is the highest selling rap album of 2014, and then Rick Ross's Mastermind comes next with 400k sold. Is it that the easier it is to download songs and albums, the more reluctant people feel about going to the store to actually get the physical copies of albums? I guess that is the problem. Cos downloading music illegally is super easy right now.
And things are going to get worse, unless something is done. I don't know what that thing is, but I don't want to be around when rappers have to struggle to sell even a quarter of a million copies. In fact, we are at that point, kinda. Just think of former heavyweights like Jeezy, T.I, and 50 Cent struggling to sell even 250k copies of their albums. At one point, they would do that easy in their first week. In the 90s, having a Platinum album was so common for rappers. Lets take the last year of the 90s and analyse the rap albums that dropped that year, and how they did commercially.
There was Jay Z, DMX, Eminem (The Slim Shady LP), Dr. Dre, Missy, Mobb Deep (Mura Muzik), Juvenile, Ja Rule (Venni, Vetti, Verci), and Nas popping that year, and they all went Platinum with the albums they released. Nas even dropped two albums that year (I Am...and Nastradamus), and they both went Platinum. Well, 15 years is a long time, but think about the more than two dozen rappers that went Platinum at that time, and then now in 2014, not one rapper is going to go Plat. J.Cole's new album, "2014 Forest Hills Drive" is projected to sell 320-350k first week, and that is a good look. It will become the best selling rap album of 2015 (probably selling a total of 500k before the end of 2014) with just three weeks. And this is not even Cole's best work. I think his fanbase rode out hard for him. Maybe rappers need to start building fanbase again, and stop depending on hot singles to sell albums.
I guess the Internet is really a gift and a curse, as illegal downloads are really hurting album sales. I thought that Eminem's Shady compilation album (Shady XV) would come and save the day but in two weeks it has only sold 170k...not even up to the first week sales of Rick Ross's "Mastermind" album earlier this week. Iggy Azalea's The New Classic album is the highest selling rap album of 2014, and then Rick Ross's Mastermind comes next with 400k sold. Is it that the easier it is to download songs and albums, the more reluctant people feel about going to the store to actually get the physical copies of albums? I guess that is the problem. Cos downloading music illegally is super easy right now.And things are going to get worse, unless something is done. I don't know what that thing is, but I don't want to be around when rappers have to struggle to sell even a quarter of a million copies. In fact, we are at that point, kinda. Just think of former heavyweights like Jeezy, T.I, and 50 Cent struggling to sell even 250k copies of their albums. At one point, they would do that easy in their first week. In the 90s, having a Platinum album was so common for rappers. Lets take the last year of the 90s and analyse the rap albums that dropped that year, and how they did commercially.
There was Jay Z, DMX, Eminem (The Slim Shady LP), Dr. Dre, Missy, Mobb Deep (Mura Muzik), Juvenile, Ja Rule (Venni, Vetti, Verci), and Nas popping that year, and they all went Platinum with the albums they released. Nas even dropped two albums that year (I Am...and Nastradamus), and they both went Platinum. Well, 15 years is a long time, but think about the more than two dozen rappers that went Platinum at that time, and then now in 2014, not one rapper is going to go Plat. J.Cole's new album, "2014 Forest Hills Drive" is projected to sell 320-350k first week, and that is a good look. It will become the best selling rap album of 2015 (probably selling a total of 500k before the end of 2014) with just three weeks. And this is not even Cole's best work. I think his fanbase rode out hard for him. Maybe rappers need to start building fanbase again, and stop depending on hot singles to sell albums.
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