Tool’s New Album Had a Bigger Debut Than Kanye West’s New Album
Some of the most highly anticipated albums of the decade have been released in 2019. Tool’s newest album, Fear Inoculum, broke a 13-year dry spell, while Kanye West’s Jesus Is King sent hip-hop fans into an anxious whirlwind with false release dates. However, it was Fear Inoculum that experienced the bigger first-week sales.
Jesus Is King debuted at No. 1 in the Billboard 200, allowing Kanye to tie Eminem’s chart record of the most consecutive No. 1 albums with a total of nine. Despite mixed reviews, Jesus Is King debuted strong with 264,000 units moved its first week, with 109,000 coming from pure album sales.
Tool’s Fear Inoculum, which was released in August, had an even more successful first week than Kanye’s new record. Tool moved 270,000 copies of the album its first week, selling a staggering 247,000 pure albums. Furthermore, the limited edition copies of Fear Inoculum completely sold out its first week, which means Tool could have landed even bigger numbers if they had further stocked shelves.
According to Chart Data, Fear Inoculum remains the sixth-biggest debut across all music genres in 2019, beating out juggernaut acts like BTS, Khalid and the Backstreet Boys.
Only 13 albums have debuted with over 100,000 pure sales in 2019, and two of those are metal albums. Along with Tool’s Fear Inoculum, Slipknot’s We Are Not Your Kind broke the six-figure mark, selling 102,000 physical copies its first week.
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