Kendrick Lamar’s new album is already projected to put up some big numbers, and it’s not even out yet.
Even without a lead single, Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, arriving on May 13, is expected to move 350,000 equivalent units in the U.S. in its first week, per HITS Daily Double. Most of the first-week numbers will come overwhelmingly from the streaming side of things, the site reports.
To nobody’s surprise, those numbers would land K-Dot yet another U.S. No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Previously, Lamar has secured 603,000 first-week equivalent album units with DAMN in 2017—353,000 from traditional album sales and 227,000 from streaming. Things may look different this time around with the way streaming has exploded in the last five years. Also, Lamar has yet to announce the sale of physical copies of Mr. Morale. 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly earned 324,000 copies in its first week, while Good Kid M.A.A.D. City brought in 242,000 copies in its first week back in 2012.
As for his upcoming LP, Lamar announced the project via his Oklama website, in the form of a pgLang press release. As the release confirms, “all factual information for this release will come directly from this source only.”
“As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years,” Lamar previously wrote last year, when announcing he was in the studio. “The Struggles. The Success. And most importantly, the Brotherhood. May the Most High continue to use Top Dawg as a vessel for candid creators. As I continue to pursue my life’s calling.”