A lot of people like to go on and on about first-week album sales like it’s 1999 and don’t take into account that people just aren’t buying music anymore.
That’s the crux of Joey Bada$$’s point on the matter. On Monday, November 20, he took to Twitter and told everyone to calm down when focusing on first-week sales.
I feel really compelled to say:
Fuck first week sales. They simply don’t matter anymore for the simple fact that no one is buying albums. I mean, when’s the last time anyone you know bought an album?
We all can stream anything we want but in order for it to count as an album…
— BADMON (@joeyBADASS) November 20, 2023
“I feel really compelled to say: F*ck first week sales,” he tweeted, possibly defending Rick Ross and Meek Mill’s album selling 31,000 units in its first week. “They simply don’t matter anymore for the simple fact that no one is buying albums. I mean, when’s the last time anyone you know bought an album? We all can stream anything we want but in order for it to count as an album sale you need to listen to every song like 1000+ times. They trynna make it seem like everybody flopping when [in] reality they changed the rules.”
“So someone plz tell me why the f*ck is anybody still worried about that?” Joey added. “They trynna take the power from the musician because they never learned how to measure influence properly. At this point, just shut the f*ck up and enjoy the music.”
Are you one of those people who are fixated on first-week sales?