Kanye West’s new album Donda 2 will not appear on any Billboard charts, Billboard reports.
via: Revolt
Kanye West says he’s “won” after it was reported that Donda 2 is ineligible for Billboard charts. As previously reported by REVOLT, sales from the Chicago rap star’s album will not be counted on the Billboard 200 or any other Billboard charts since it is being released exclusively through his own stem player.
The player is considered merchandise, so selling the album along with the device violates Billboard’s merchandise bundle policy, which states that albums sold with merchandise are ineligible for charts.
The rule could change in the future, though, as Billboard previously said it and MRC would “continue to monitor [the stem player’s] evolution as it relates to chart eligibility” since it “is a fairly new concept.”
Nonetheless, Kanye reacted happily to the news in an Instagram post on Wednesday (March 9).
“Big win for the kid. We can no longer be counted or judged. We won we won we won we won,” he wrote in the post. “We make my own systems. We set our own value aaaand yesterdays price is not todays price baaaaabeeeee!!!!!”
Kanye’s first Donda album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last year; earning 309,000 equivalent album units within its first week.
At the time of its release, Donda had the biggest sales week for any album that year. The project’s No. 1 debut also tied Ye with Eminem for most consecutive No. 1 album debuts in history. Furthermore, the feat made Kanye one of a select group of artists who have managed to release 10 chart-topping albums throughout their career.
Kanye has been promoting Donda 2 for months and gave fans a first listen to the effort at his performance event in Miami on Feb. 22. The next day, he released four songs off the record through his stem player website, following up with another 12 songs on Feb. 24.
See Kanye’s Instagram post reacting to news of Donda 2‘s Billboard chart ineligibility below.
