(AllHipHop News) It has been a down year for rap albums commercially. No project has managed to break the 200,000 mark in first week units sold so far, but Roc Nation’s J. Cole is looking to pull in the biggest one week sales for a Hip Hop album in 2014.
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According to HitsDailyDouble, even without heavy promotion, the North Carolina native’s third studio LP 2014 Forest Hills Drive is predicted to sell between 240,000 – 270,000 copies in its opening week. That total would surpass the 179,000 copies for Rick Ross’ Mastermind and the 148,000 for Shady Records’ Shady XV.
Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive hitting the 240,000 – 270,000 mark would be the second highest initial week sales of his career. Cole World: The Sideline Story sold 218,000 copies in 2011, and Born Sinner came in at 297,000 copies in 2013. Both LPs eventually hit number one.
It should be noted that HDD’s numbers are not final, and that Billboard/Soundscan’s official calculations for album sales now include streaming totals and individual song downloads. Every 1,500 streams on services like Spotify, Beats Music, Rdio, Rhapsody, and Google Play now equal one album sale. The new Billboard 200 tally including streams began this month.
[ALSO READ: Billboard To Begin Counting Streaming For Album Chart]
Watch the video for J. Cole’s “Apparently” below.