Kendrick Lamar Has the No. 1 Debut Album of 2017 + Announces the DAMN Tour
All hail King Kendrick! After releasing his highly anticipated third full-length studio album DAMN (fourth, if you count untitled unmastered.). April 14, Kendrick Lamar has seen a lot of commercial and critical success. Since the release, the Compton native has been riding the wave of the news cycle, hitting us with nonstop Kendrick with the drop of a visual for his new single “DNA.”, new merch, and a noteworthy Coachella set. DAMN. has shown that it’s earned its praise and then some as it takes the coveted number one spot on the charts as 2017’s top-selling album in the US. In addition to this, he has also announced the DAMN tour.
As it stands, in its first week of sales, the album has grossed 353,000 traditional album sales and 227,000 in streaming equivalent albums, giving Kendrick a total first week sales of a whopping 603,000 units.
Yes, this means that King Kendrick has surpassed the previous title-holder, Drake, whose More Life playlist/album hybrid raked in 503,000 units in its first week of sales. He also outdid his own previous record of 324,000 units sold for his 2015 album, To Pimp A Butterfly. As far as physical album sales, DAMN.’s total of 353,000 sales is the highest since J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only first week of physical units sold. All in all, it’s a higher than expected debut for Kendrick and implies that the Compton native is well on his way to going platinum in the near future and we’re barely into the second week of the album’s release.
Kendrick had more good news to give his adoring fans, whom he affectionately calls his “KenFolk”. This morning (April 24), he announced the DAMN tour, with dates that stretch from July 12 to August 6. The 17-date, 17-city tour kicks off in Phoenix, Arizona and makes stops in cities like Houston, Atlanta, Brooklyn, DC, Detroit, Toronto, Chicago, and more. The finale will be his August 6 date in Los Angeles, California. No venues have been announced for the tour just yet, but tickets are said to be on sale to the general public on April 28.
The DAMN tour will include opening acts featuring Travis Scott and D.R.A.M. The tour schedule can be viewed in full below:
THE DAMN. TOUR pic.twitter.com/RK89UlBayi
— Kendrick Lamar (@kendricklamar) April 24, 2017
Photo Credit: PR PHOTOS
