Meek Mill thinks that the first-week sales for an artist’s project are redundant, saying that the record labels ultimately decide what charts on Billboard and what doesn’t.
Taking to Twitter last night, the Bad For You rapper shared his concerns about the direction in which the music industry is going following the release of several highly-anticipated albums, including Coi Leray’s Trendsetter and Fivio Foreign’s B.I.B.L.E.
Surprisingly, though, Coi is reportedly looking to debut with first-week sales of 11,000, while Fivio’s numbers are a little higher as he’s on pace to sell 29,000 units, which is a far cry from the days a rap artist could accumulate over 300k for their debut album.
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Meek has now spoken out in support of his fellow rappers who no longer obtain the chart impact they once had, insisting that the Billboard charts shouldn’t be considered when judging the quality of one’s music.
“They crashing the rap game out …. that everybody drop on Friday bs,” he wrote on his official Twitter page. “Wtf is that … why would you want to sell your product on the same day as the competition… for a billboard look? lol what does that do for the artist?”
They crashing the rap game out …. that everybody drop on Friday bs …. Wtf is that … why would you want to sell your product on the same day as the competition… for a billboard look? lol what does that do for the artist?
— MeekMill.nft (@MeekMill) April 14, 2022
The 34-year-old then claimed that the album sales are usually controlled by the record label, which has the upper hand in dictating which artist earns placement on Billboard’s Hot 200. According to his tweets, Meek believes that the sales tally is often manipulated, which is why people shouldn’t rely on chart numbers too much.
“We don’t go off first week numbers ….Labels run that sh** … and most of the numbers be fake … you can clearly see all the artist that’s killing shit! Focus on your brand and impact!!” the Philadelphia native explained.
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“Why would you want to sell your product on the same day as the competition… for a billboard look? lol what does that do for the artist?”
Meanwhile, in March, Meek was announced to front his very own Las Vegas residency at Drai’s multi-level venue, which officially began on April 9 and will continue in late May, where he’ll perform at another two shows before joining a star-studded line-up for Drai’s Memorial Day weekend celebration.
A statement from Dustin Drai, Vice President of Entertainment at Drai’s, shared the exciting news in a statement.
“We are proud to produce residencies at the forefront of music so it’s with great excitement that we welcome back Meek Mill,” Dustin expressed. As one of the industry’s best and most powerful live performers, we look forward to welcoming him back to the Drai’s LIVE stage and continuing our great partnership.”