In this digital age, album leaks are an accepted part of the music industry. So when Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV was illegally pushed onto the Internet five days before its official drop, the Young Money honcho wasn't worried in the least.
"We did real good this time, real good," Wayne told correspondent Jim Cantiello after his show-closing performance at the VMAs in L.A. on Sunday. "It just means people want to hear it," he said. "I mean, 'cause there're people's albums that come out that can be leaked and don't leak, so I'm glad mines leaked."
Hear Weezy talk about having a "moment" with his show-closing VMA set!
After Jay-Z and Kanye West avoided a leak with their Watch the Throne album, many wondered if Wayne could do the same. But the YMCMB camp insists they aren't too concerned about how the leak may affect album sales. Via his Twitter account, Cash Money CEO Birdman has been promoting Weezy's album for the past week, even going so far as to predict that C4 would sell a million copies in its first week, just like Wayne's Tha Carter III in 2008. On Monday, he wrote, "C4.BMJR.#Dont Lie 1m. 1week They Know."
"I think we should still do well," Mack Maine told on Sunday. "The leak shouldn't have affected it that much. Actually, this is the first time that the albums leaked so close [to the release date]. Tha Carter III leaked two weeks before and we still did [1 million] the first week. So if history repeats itself, we shouldn't have any problems."
On Tuesday, after a full day of sales, Billboard reported that Tha Carter IV was on pace to sell anywhere between 850,000 and 900,000 copies in its first week. Meanwhile, HITS Daily Double estimated on Friday (September 2) that Wayne could move upwards of 975,000 copies, inching him that much closer to a milli.
Do you think Wayne will sell a million copies of C4 in one week? Make your predictions in the comments!