Pop queen,
Read: Rihanna – "Anti"
NY Times reports that "ANTI" has been off to a slow start since its release on January 28, despite the $25m deal the 26-yr-old singer had landed with electronics giant, Samsung, in October 2015, that had the company buying one million copies which was ultimately given out to fans.
Although Tidal reports having sold 484,833 downloads of the album, with streaming up to 5.6 million times via its service, “ANTI” opened at no 27 this week, making it Rihanna's lowest opening chart position yet.
A subscriber to Tidal services, identity withheld, has reportedly revealed the number of albums to be 460 in total.
Despite the initially low sales, "ANTI" had climbed to the No. 1 spot on iTunes’s internal charts, and industry sales executives reportedly predict that the album has a potential of selling 130,000 copies in its first full week of sales, which would be a reflection on next week’s chart.
No matter how we look at it, "ANTI" did not have the raving chart opening Rihanna has since become accustomed to, with her last album, "Unapologetic" which she dropped in 2012, opening at No 1.
Like the rest of her 7 studio albums which had opened in the top 10 positions, her single "Work" featuring rapper, Drake, had opened at No 9 on the Hot 100 list.
We really hope sales pick up by next week as the amount of hype which has gone into the album deserves far more.