It has no chance of claiming the #1 position–or of matching the 253,000 sales mark set by 2012’s “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded”–but Nicki Minaj’s “The Pinkprint” can at least celebrate a slightly elevated sales projection.
After signaling a bow in the 155-165,000 range earlier this week, “The Pinkprint” now appears poised for a tally in the 165-175,000 range.
Hits Daily Double, which reports the estimate, says that Track Equivalent Album (10 song sales = 1 album sale) and Streaming Equivalent Album (1500 song streams = 1 album sale) data will likely elevate the number to 180-190,000 total units. Billboard now uses the latter unit count when assembling its Billboard 200.
Whether measured on a pure sales or total units basis, “The Pinkprint” appears destined for the #3 position. Taylor Swift’s “1989” will return to #1 in dominant fashion (~345K sales, ~395K total units), while Pentatonix’s “That’s Christmas to Me” could have yet another 200K+ sales week (and 210K+ total units). It will be the week’s second-best seller.
Others set for a top five position: J. Cole’s “2014 Forest Hills Drive” (~120K sales, ~135K total units) and D’Angelo & The Vanguard’s “Black Messiah” (~95-100K sales, ~105-110K total units).
