Drake’s ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’ Projected To Hit Number One
Drake is projected to top the Billboard 200 with If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Billboard reports. Released just three days ago on February 12, the 17-track surprise release is likely to sell more than 500,000 copies during its first week — the second largest sales week for an album in the past year, following Taylor Swift‘s 1989.
Critics have called Drake the rap game Taylor Swift before. The first time New York pop music critic Jody Rosen heard “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2,” where Drake remembers classmates who used to tease him, he thought of Swift’s “You Belong With Me” and its claims that “she’s cheer captain, and I’m on the bleachers.” Both artists rose to the top with songs portraying them as outsiders — losers at their core, who still have something to prove.
Last year, when Drake’s “Trophies” and “0-100/The Catch Up” caught on without any promo, Gawker’s Jordan Sargent compared his chart impact to that of Swift’s — not that hit singles could measure up to millions-selling albums in terms of numbers, but that both artists could thrive at a time of record low music sales.
The latest Billboard 200 chart will be published on February 18; perhaps in the weeks to follow, Drake will earn the album sales to justify comparisons even further.
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