Friday, June 11 saw the arrival of two highly-anticipated Hip Hop albums. Culture III by Migos and Hall of Fame by Polo G hit DSPs on the same day.
HitsDailyDouble has crunched the early numbers in order to offer first-week sales estimates for Culture III and Hall of Fame. At the moment, it appears Polo G is on pace to take the top spot on next week’s album chart.
According to HDD, Polo G’s Hall of Fame is projected to start off with 165,000-175,000 units in its opening week of release. Migos’ Culture III is predicted to move 125,000-135,000 units in week one.
If those calculations hold up, Polo G could earn his first #1 album. 2019’s Die a Legend peaked at #6, and 2020’s The Goat peaked at #2. Both albums are certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
A late push could help Migos pull out a first-place finish with Culture III. Quavo, Offset, and Takeover already have two #1 albums in their catalog – 2017’s Platinum-certified Culture and 2018’s 2x-Platinum-certified Culture II.
The official sales figures presented by Billboard can end up being different than the early predictions. Lil Baby and Lil Durk’s The Voice Of The Heroes was expected to rack up 165,000-185,000 first-week units, but the joint project actually debuted with 150,000 units.
Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red was supposedly set to bring in 125,000–135,000 first-week units. However, his sophomore album actually scored 100,000 first-week units.
Plus, there was the debacle in 2020 involving 6ix9ine’s TattleTales. The controversial New Yorker saw his projections go from 150,000 units to 50,000 units to 45,000 units to 65,000 units before Billboard reported the album actually opened with 53,000 units.
Earlier this year, Polo G notched his first Number One song on the Hot 100 chart when the Hall of Fame single “Rapstar” debuted at #1. In addition, the LP hosts tracks with The Kid Laroi, Lil Durk, Lil Wayne, G Herbo, Rod Wave, DaBaby, Young Thug, Roddy Ricch, Nicki Minaj, Pop Smoke, and more.
Hall of Fame arrived one day before Polo G was arrested in Miami-Dade County, Florida on multiple charges including battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence. The Chicago-bred rhymer is currently out on bond.
Besides dropping his own body of work last week, Polo G appeared on “Malibu” off Migos’ Culture III. Migos also included Drake, Cardi B, Future, Justin Bieber, and YoungBoy Never Broke Again as well as the late rappers Juice Wrld and Pop Smoke on the album.
