The first sales projections for The Pinkprint are in, and they are fairly good.
According to Hits Daily Double, Nicki Minaj's third studio album, which dropped yesterday, should move about 175,000 copies in its first week.
In a normal year that wouldn't be that great, considering Minaj's star power and all the promotional juice behind The Pinkprint. But 2014 is not a normal year. While Minaj has no chance of topping J. Cole's 2014 Forrest Park Lane, which opened with 270,000 copies sold last week, 'The Pinkprint' will battle Rick Ross's Mastermind (179,000) for the second biggest first week of '14.
Minaj last album, 2012's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, did 253,000 in its first week on its way to almost a million domestically.
D’Angelo's surprise album Black Messiah, which dropped Sunday night, will move about 100,000 units in its first week. This should please label RCA since it's the R&B crooner's first LP in 14 years and yet they barely had to spend a dime on promotion.
Have you heard either The Pinkprint or Black Messiah yet?