Projections have emerged for Katy Perry’s “Witness,” and they confirm what many surely guessed: the album is headed for a #1 debut.
According to Hits Daily Double, “Witness” is projected to sell 175-200,000 pure US copies this week. The inclusion of TEA (track sales/10) and SEA (track streams/1500) should yield a first-week consumption total of 200-225,000.
Early projections have been less accurate since the switch to a Friday-Thursday tracking week, and the extent to which the Hits projections account for the ticket/album bundles is unclear.
Still, it seems very safe to conclude that “Witness” will be #1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales (pure sales) and Billboard 200 (consumption) charts. No other album is expected to come close to a six-figure total this week.
“Witness” is the follow-up to Perry’s 2013 “PRISM,” which debuted at #1 on the then-sales-only Billboard 200. It sold 286,000 pure US copies in its first week.
