Fans have purchased enough copies of the record to ensure it debuts at number one on the September 10 edition of the Billboard album sales chart.
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Blonde snags the number one spot away from Suicide Squad’s soundtrack with a total of 276,000 equivalent album sales, earned in the week of August 25th.
The only two albums to enjoy better opening-week sales this year are Drake’s Views and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
Blonde was only streamed on Apple Music as well, but Ocean also sold the album via the iTunes music store.
Ocean’s sophomore studio album Blonde arrived as an independent LP after he turned in another “visual album” titled Endless to Def Jam Records/Universal Music Group as his final contract requirement. The self-released album launched as an Apple Music/iTunes exclusive, which means that it likely lacked the marketing resources that usually come with high-profile major label releases. He responded by ordering all Universal labels to end streaming exclusives, according to the Music Business Worldwide blog and other music publications.
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Ocean performs in a unique blend of rap and R&B falsetto, with introspective lyricism known for its subtlety.
