NEWS: Usher’s seventh album, “Looking 4 Myself” is the No. 1 record in the country after selling 128,000 copies during its first week in stores. This is his fourth consecutive No. 1 record. It’s safe to assume that Usher’s reign at the top will only last one week as his protégé Justin Bieber released the “Believe” album on June 19 and will easily be the sales leader next week.
The album’s second single “Scream” has sold 123,000 copies and is currently No. 7 on Billboard’s digital-songs chart. The “Scream” video has 2.7 million YouTube views and the audio version of the song has another 4.7 million. “Scream” is also No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart while the first single “Climax” is No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs list.
THE TRUTH: Even though he scored the top album of the week, Usher’s sales have taken a tremendous dive since the release of “Raymond v. Raymond” which sold 329,000 copies after it dropped in March of 2010. In 2001, Usher’s third album “8701” sold 210,000 copies in week one. When “Here I Stand” hit record stores in May of 2008 it sold well over 433,000 copies in the first week. Usher has definitely been visible during his album launch including performing on NBC’s “Today Show,” the Microsoft Xbox E3 2012 media briefing, and the 2012 Billboard Music Awards.