Hov's 14 million 'Magna Carta... Holy Grail' 1st week streams in the U.S. is the most number by any album in Spotify history.
- Jul 17, 2013
AceShowbiz - After his "Magna Carta... Holy Grail" album got certified platinum last week and bagged him his first ever solo No. 1 album in the U.K., Jay-Z lands another career achievement thanks to his new studio album. The Roc Nation mogul's 14 million "MCHG" full album streams in the U.S. in its first week has set a new record as the most number of opening week streams of any album in Spotify history.
Jay-Z's feat has now broken existing records first set by Grammy Award-winning group Mumford & Sons' "Babel" with 8 million streams and electronic dance duo Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" with 9.5 million. Hov has even surpassed the Spotify records of his collaborators and good pals Justin Timberlake and Kanye West with his new album's accomplishment.
Jay-Z's achievement is rooted in the fact that he doesn't only strive to put out an album that exceeds the expectations set by his previous works but he's also a keen marketing guy and strategist. By closing the 1 million downloads deal with Samsung, he has not only managed to get his latest platinum album straight away but also made it all into a clever promotion that continues to pay off for him.
Although the 1 million Samsung downloads will not be counted as official album sales by Nielsen SoundScan, Billboard now reports that "MCHG" has just debuted at the top of the charts, selling 527,000 copies in its first week according to a preliminary tally. It surpasses once again Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" debut of 339,000 posted back in May, and now sits at the runner-up spot next to JT's "The 20/20 Experience" which holds this year's record at 968,000.
