Neither Luke Bryan’s “Kill the Lights” nor “Compton” started as well as expected. Both albums, however, are on track for strong opening week sales totals.
Based on first day sales data, Hits Daily Double forecasts an opening week total of 325-340,000 for Luke Bryan’s “Kill the Lights.” The Apple-exclusive “Compton,” which is the soundtrack to “Straight Outta Compton” and being positioned as the first Dr. Dre studio album since 1999, is expected to move 260-275,000.
Going into the week, the industry was forecasting a 350-375,000 bow for “Lights” and a 300-350,000 launch for “Compton.”
Thanks to strong track sales and streams, “Compton” will close the gap from a consumption standpoint. At this point, however, “Kill the Lights” is also expected to win that race — and thus claim #1 on the Billboard 200.
Luke Bryan’s previous album “Crash My Party” sold a whopping 528,000 in its first week. Signposted by the fact that lead “Kill the Lights” single “Kick the Dust Up” got off to a considerably slower start than the “Crash My Party” title track, Luke’s new album was not expected to match his previous sales total.
