Practically everyone has been eagerly anticipating "Anti," Rihanna's much awaited album after "Unapologetic" which landed on the No. 1 spot in Billboard right after its release. But with the number of sold copies of "Anti" in the U.S. it left everybody wondering if the siren can still hack it and top the charts. Despite the numbers, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) gave it a platinum certification.
According to Yahoo, "Anti" earned the platinum certification from RIAA because of the one million free downloads that Tidal gave away. Tidal, which is Jay Z's streaming music service, partnered with Samsung, which made possible the free downloads to fans. But why didn't the one million album downloads propel the singer to the top charts of Billboard?
One of the policies of Billboard is not to include in its tally any promotional or free downloads. Hence, the one million giveaways were not computed by Billboard. In defense of the low album sales of Rihanna's "Anti," a Tidal spokesperson said that the album was released late, which was right after the giveaway has already ended, which was why it did not usher in a lot of sales.
A New York Times report said that according to Tidal, 484,833 downloads were sold on top of the one million giveaways. It also mentioned that based on its records, there were 5.6 million streams of the album. Incidentally, Rihanna is also a partner in Tidal.
While Rihanna may have not been used not to see her album in Billboard's No. 1 or perhaps even at the top 10, being in the 27th spot on the first week may be enough to console her. This may be a tad low for the singer as compared to her 2012 "Unapologetic," which topped the charts at No. 1 on the first week.
But hey, it's just the first week. Who knows? "Anti" might just surge to No. 1 in the second week and topple Adele's "25." It's now a wait and see game for all Rihanna fans out there.
