Drake Sells More Than 446,000 In One Week, 3rd Highest Debut Of The Year

According to preliminary figures from Nielsen Soundscan, Drake’s much anticipated album Thank Me Later has sold more than 446,000 units, making it the third highest debut of the year behind Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now and Sade’s Soldier of Love, which sold 481,000 and 502,000 in their first weeks respectively.

Drake’s sales are not close to rivaling the last big rap debut from his mentor Lil Wayne. “It’s a different time and space,” said Gail Mitchell of Billboard.com “The last rap album, according to Nielsen Soundscan, to sell a million in its first week was Lil Wayne’s The Carter III in June of 2008. In that two year time, the industry has changed a lot and sales aren’t where they used to be overall so for Drake to being doing anything in the 400,000 range despite a leak says something to the whole fact that if you got a strong album and you got strong songs on an album, people will buy it.”