Jay-Z’s latest album “4:44” may already be certified platinum but it was noticeably absent from Monday’s Billboard 200 album chart because the rapper’s own streaming platform Tidal did not report numbers to Nielsen Music.
The album, on which Jay-Z addresses cheating on his wife Beyonce and the birth of their twins, was released on June 30 as an exclusive to members of Tidal and customers of wireless carrier Sprint Corp who were offered a free six-month subscription to Tidal to listen to the album.
The Billboard 200 album chart is based on retailers and streaming platforms reporting sales and streaming figures to Nielsen SoundScan.
Tidal did not report first-week streaming figures of “4:44” to Nielsen, David Bakula of Nielsen Music said.
Just six days after “4:44” was released, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album as Platinum, meaning one million U.S. consumers had already downloaded the album.
DJ Khaled’s “Grateful” topped the Billboard 200 chart for a second consecutive week on Monday with another 70,000 album units sold.
New albums in the top 10 of this week’s Billboard 200 album chart include electro-pop DJ Calvin Harris’ “Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1” at No. 2 and on the digital song charts Luis Fonsi’s summer hit “Despacito continued its reign at No. 1.