With Jay-Z”s 1 million Samsung downloads declared ineligible for the Billboard 200, expect J Cole”s “Born Sinner” to possibly ascend to the top of the chart next week.
A full report isn”t available, due to the July 4th holiday, but Billboard predicts that the album, which debuted at No. 2 last week (and stayed there this week), will move to No. 1 in a slow sales week.
“Born Sinner” will likely sell around 60,000 copies to handily beat any of this week”s newcomers, including new albums from Joe, Hillsong and Relient K, as well as topple this week’s chart topper: Wale’s “The Gifted.”
In the Nielsen Soundscan era, albums tend to arrive at No. 1, as opposed to work their way up the chart. Should “Born Sinner” make the climb, it will be the first album since Bruno Mars” “Unorthodox Jukebox” to do so. Mars” sophomore set rose to No. 1 12 weeks after it initially bowed on the chart at No. 2 in December, according to Billboard.