Billboard posted Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak at #1 this week selling (a tiny) 450,000 copies in its first of release. Even though this is Kanye’s third straight to number-one album, this has been Kanye’s lowest first-week sales count since The College Dropout hit stores, and naturally, debut albums don’t usually make a big splash on the first week. You’d think that the whole Black Friday, Thanksgiving weekend thing would help boost Kanye’s sales. 

Black Friday or not, take a look at Kanye’s track record: Late Registration bowed at No. 1 with 860,000 discs sold, and last year’s Graduation took the big spot with nearly a million (957,000) discs sold in its first week. 808s opening at 450k is simply absurd. 

Well to be fair, Kanye hasn’t had a bona fide big hit with 808s yet. When Late Registration dropped, he had “Gold Digger” to back it up. When Graduation released he had “Stronger” and not to mention the whole Kanye vs 50 beef. While 808s has the fleeting first two singles “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless.”

Speaking of “Heartless,” check out Kanye sharing the mic with Rick Ross on his hopeful hit. 

Download “Heartless” with Rick Ross after the jump! Continue reading →