As expected
Kendrick Lamar‘s debut album, the highly coveted, now platinum certified good kid, m.A.A.d. city, was the first proper major label album to be released into the marketplace by TDE after signing their partnership deal with Interscope Records, and few were surprised by the commercial and critical success Kendrick received. Despite not debuting at #1–Taylor Swift‘s Grammy Award-nominated album, RED, hit stores the same day and nearly went platinum in its first week–Kendrick sold nearly 250,000 copies in 7 days, and was awarded with his platinum plaque earlier this year.
Kendrick–credited largely with helping break ScHoolboy Q into the commercial forum–paved the way for TDE to try to repeat the feat just over a year after Kendrick’s incredible run, and it appears they’ve done just that. Despite achieving little to no chart success with any of his singles–at least Kendrick’s lead single, “Swimming Pools”, peaked at #17 on the national charts–ScHoolboy Q has debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, beating out the Disney Frozen soundtrack and Kid Cudi’s surprise Satellite Flight release for the top spot. The final tally–which fell slightly short of the early predictions–is 138,517. Congrats to Q & the entire TDE team.
Meanwhile, what do you think Q’s next single should be?
