The vinyl version of Kid Cudi‘s ‘Man On The Moon III: The Chosen’ has broken a US chart record.
- READ MORE: Kid Cudi – ‘Man On The Moon III: The Chosen’ review: an art piece of epic highs and honest lows
The rapper’s seventh studio LP was originally released on December 11, 2020 as a digital album and via streaming services. Its CD edition arrived on June 18, 2021.
The album – which features the likes of Skepta, Pop Smoke, Phoebe Bridgers and Trippie Redd – was released on vinyl for the first time earlier this month, on December 17. This has helped the album score a new high on the US album chart.
‘Man On The Moon III: The Chosen’ has re-entered the Billboard chart at Number Four, surpassing its previous peak of Number 10. In the week beginning December 17, the album sold 42,000 copies, 41,500 of which were on vinyl.
According to Chart Data, this means the album has broken the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history.
.@KidCudi's 'Man on the Moon III: The Chosen' breaks the record for biggest vinyl sales week for both a male artist and a rap album in Nielsen history (41.5K).
— chart data (@chartdata) December 28, 2021
Cudi responded to the news on Twitter, first writing, “Holy shit whats happening”, in response to the album landing at Number Four on the charts. When he found out he had broken a chart record, he tweeted: “Holy FUCK!!!”
Holy FUCK!!!
https://t.co/8ZXun9sng4
— The Chosen One : I
YOU FRESHIE 4EVER (@KidCudi) December 29, 2021
Holy shit whats happening https://t.co/vx1davCFFB
— The Chosen One : I
‘Man On The Moon III: The Chosen’ has now sold 81,000 copies since its original release, across all available retail formats (physical and digital combined), in the US.
In a four-star review of the album, NME‘s Will Lavin called ‘Man On The Moon III: The Chosen’ a “cinematic masterstroke that electrifies the senses at every turn”.
The review continued: “Kid Cudi gives us every part of himself, laying out his insecurities and inner demons in the hope that it might help someone else, his words etched into a vivid backdrop of intoxicating melodies and palatial riffs. No one does mood music quite like Cudi.”
Meanwhile, Cudi has revealed plans to drop two separate albums next year, saying he has some “tasty surprises”.
While performing as part of the California leg of the Rolling Loud festival for 2021, the rapper delivered a yet-to-be-released song titled ‘Freshie’. Elsewhere in the set, Cudi explained why he was teasing unreleased music during his set.
“As you know, I have ‘Entergalactic’ coming in the summer,” Cudi said – referencing his long-teased album, first hinted at back in 2019.
“I wanna drop another album before that. I got some tasty surprises and I really am excited about all this new shit; this new music to give to you guys. That’s why I’m teasing this shit now, because it’s coming out soon. Tonight, record this shit.”
The news comes after it was revealed that vinyl record sales in the UK in 2021 were the highest they’ve been in 30 years, despite widely publicised issues with backlogs and delays.
According to new figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), more than five million vinyl records were sold this year, an eight per cent increase on 2020. It marks the 14th year in a row that the format has increased sales, with vinyl records making up 23 per cent of all albums sold this year.
The biggest-selling vinyl album of 2021 so far is ABBA‘s comeback record ‘Voyage’, while Adele‘s huge ’30’ and Sam Fender‘s ‘Seventeen Going Under’ – NME’s Album Of The Year – also sold big on wax.
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