Rihanna's Album Sales Too Low?
Rihanna’s sixth studio album “Talk That Talk” premiered recently, but the estimated numbers for first week’s sales do not place the pop star’s album at number one on the Billboard charts.
The latest album is expected to sell between 180,000 and 200,000 in its first week, according to Hits Double Daily. The numbers may be surprising to some, who witnessed the album’s lead single “We Found Love” shoot straight to number one on the U.K. charts.
Some have speculated about the reasoning for the pop princess’ low first week sales expectations. Jason Lipschutz of Billboard said he believed Rihanna rushed her latest effort.
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"After reclaiming her crown on Loud... Rihanna is not about to take any sort of break to let her pop princess competitors catch up" Lipschutz said. "[Talk That Talk is] an oddly rushed-out release to the objective music fan. Why not wait a bit and let the buzz of Loud set in?"
Despite the seemingly low first week album sales, Rihanna recently said she wanted people to respect her music more.
“It’s more about the music, I don’t want to become a gimmick - ever. Well, I ran out of [hair] colors, so that’s why I decided to go back to my natural color,” Rihanna said in an interview with Vibe Vixen. “I’m just really having fun with the music and the style is a lot more accessible. It’s more lifestyle, it’s not so much a look or a costume, which I really enjoy.”
Despite controversy surrounding the singer’s appearance in the past, she was able to break a record with 11 number one singles.
The song “We Found Love” helped Rihanna break the record on Billboard’s Hot 100, in which she was previously tied with 10 singles at number one. With her latest song to secure its place at the top of the charts, the Barbados-born singer was able to pull one song ahead of Stevie Wonder and Janet Jackson’s record of 10 number one singles.
Rihanna is now tied with Whitney Houston with 11 number one singles, and needs one more to tie with Madonna. The Beatles lead the list with 20 number one singles, followed by Mariah Carey with 18, Elvis Presley with 17 and Michael Jackson with 13.
Although she is nine away from the leading the pack of influential figures, Rihanna made more history after accomplishing 20 top 10 singles faster than any other solo artist. The “We Found Love” singer accomplished the feat in six years and four months.
The record was previously held by Madonna, who did so in six years and nine months. Although the Beatles were able to do so in two years and seven months, Rihanna is the only single artist to come close.
