Big Sean‘s projected first-week sales for his new album Better Me Than You are in — and it isn’t looking good for the former G.O.O.D. Music MC.
While the exact number of units it’s expected to sell is unclear, the project doesn’t even appear in the top 20 of HITSDaily Double‘s forecast for next week’s Billboard 200 chart.
The lowest-ranking album on the list is Taylor Swift’s 2019 LP Lover, which is expected to earn 23,800 equivalent album units by the end of this week’s tracking period, meaning Better Me Than You‘s first-week sales fall below this mark.
The project would mark the lowest-charting release of Sean’s career by a large margin, with his previous solo efforts all debuting in the top three on the Billboard 200.
He enjoyed a consecutive run at number one with 2015’s Dark Sky Paradise, 2017’s I Decided and 2020’s Detroit 2, all of which sold over 100,000 copies in their opening weeks.
Even Sean’s collaborative projects, Twenty88 with girlfriend Jhené Aiko and Double or Nothing with Metro Boomin, reached number five and six on the chart, respectively.
The Detroit rapper might not be too wounded by the underwhelming performance of his latest album, though.
In an interview with Complex ahead of its release, Sean said at this stage of his career he puts more stock into how fans feel about his music rather than where it charts.
“I mean, I care [about first-week sales and chart performance], but at the same time, I’ve also had back to back to back number one albums. So more importantly, I just want the people who fuck with me to have new music from me,” he said.
“If I did care so much about those numbers, I probably would’ve waited and had more features and more of that. But honestly, I’m tired of playing that game. I kind of just want to make music for my listeners, people who fuck with me. There’s a lot of people who love me.”
He added: “There’s a lot of people who fucking hate me too. I think the success is just making the music to me, and everything else is cherries on top. Of course I would love to be number one and do all these amazing things, but I’m winning regardless, bro.”
Big Sean isn’t the only rapper to fall short of commercial expectations of late. Last month, YG’s Just Re’d Up 3 debuted at number 151 on the Billboard 200 after earning just 8,000 equivalent album units in its first week.
The Compton rapper previously cracked the top five with My Krazy Life, Stay Dangerous and My Life 4Hunnid, although he’s experienced a steady decline on the chart in recent years.