Week Ending Nov. 30, 2008: West's Numbers Head South

Dude ain't even sweating the sales

by Paul Grein in Chart Watch

Kanye West's fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak, debuts at #1 with first-week sales of 450,000. That's less than half of what West's last album, Graduation, sold in its first week in September 2007. Graduation sold 957,000 copies out-of-the-shoot, boosted by West's high-profile face-off with rival 50 Cent and by a monster single, "Stronger," which hit #1 on the Hot 100 the same week the album debuted at #1. West's second album, Late Registration, opened with sales of 860,000 in September 2005, boosted by similar factors. West had stirred national controversy on Sept. 2 with explosive comments ("George Bush doesn't care about black people") during a post-Katrina telethon on NBC-TV. Also, his single "Gold Digger" hit #1 on the Hot 100 the week the album topped the chart.
West hasn't picked a fight with anybody lately, and his recent singles, while successful, haven't reached #1 on the Hot 100. "Love Lockdown" has climbed as high as #3; "Heartless" has reached #4.

The fall-off can't be attributed solely to an industry slump. West's first-week number is down in both absolute and relative terms. Late Registration debuted with the second-biggest weekly sales total of 2005, topped only by 50 Cent's The Massacre. Graduation opened with the biggest weekly total of 2007. But 808s and Heartbreak is only the 10th biggest weekly sales total so far in 2008.

There is, of course, another factor that I haven't really addressed in this space yet. The nation's economy went off a cliff in September (perhaps you heard). People are being far more cautious in their discretionary spending. That's bound to make people think twice about whether they really need the new album by Kenny Chesney or Beyonce, to name two other artists who have debuted at #1 in recent weeks with smaller first-week totals than they achieved last time out.

All four of West's albums have started with sales north of 400,000 units. West's debut album, The College Dropout, debuted at #2 in February 2004, with first-week sales of 441,000. To have four consecutive albums start with sales of 400K or more over a nearly five year span is nothing to sneeze at.

The title, 808s & Heartbreak, refers to the album's split focus. West constructed some of the tracks on a Roland TR-808 drum machine. The other tracks reflect recent losses-a breakup with his fiancé and his mother's death. Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen likens the album to two other famous breakup albums--Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks, which topped the chart in 1975, and Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear, a Top 30 album in 1979.

Nearly one-quarter of West's first-week sales total came in the digital realm. The album sold 103,000 downloads. That's the second biggest first-week digital tally ever for a rap or hip-hop album. Only Graduation surpasses it, with first-week digital sales of 133,000. Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III is third with first-week digital sales of 100,000.