On one side of the coin, it's No. 1. On the other side, it's West's lowest sales debut week ever. Every one of his previous records have all passed 400,000 units sold in the first week. J. Cole's Born Sinner gave Yeezus a very unexpected battle for that top spot, with the former selling 297,000. Prior to its release, Sinner was only expected to sell up to 150,000 copies its first week.
Although the numbers will be debated for a while, this is a win for both rappers. Yeezus becomes West's sixth chart-topper, while J. Cole comes within 30,000 of a fellow rapper he has previously said he idolizes (remember, they were originally expected to be separated by a whopping 350,000 units).
The lower-than-expected sales tally for Yeezus also means Daft Punk's Random Access Memories still has the second-highest debut week of the year (339,000) behind Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience.