The economic hard times haven't hit Kanye West and Jay-Z, as the pair's paens to living the upper-class life that is "Watch the Throne" debuted atop the U.S. pop charts, with much of its purchases coming from an iTunes-only exclusive sale. The album sold 436,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, with 321,000 of those in the form of digital downloads.
What makes that number, perhaps, even more impressive is the fact that "Watch the Throne" carried a premium price tag. Apple's digital store, which began selling the album on Aug. 9 sold the standard edition for $11.99 and slapped a $14.99 price tag on the deluxe edition, far above the typical $9.99 digital price.
Yet fans weren't turned off by this celebration of excess and wealth, as"Watch the Throne" owns the second-largest opening sales week of 2011. Only Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," which topped 1 million copies sold when it debuted, had a better initial showing. SoundScan declines to break out sales by retailer, but it's no secret that the majority of "Watch the Throne" sales were courtesy of iTunes, as no other retailer was granted approval to sell the album until Friday, and the sales week ends on Sunday.
What makes that number, perhaps, even more impressive is the fact that "Watch the Throne" carried a premium price tag. Apple's digital store, which began selling the album on Aug. 9 sold the standard edition for $11.99 and slapped a $14.99 price tag on the deluxe edition, far above the typical $9.99 digital price.
Yet fans weren't turned off by this celebration of excess and wealth, as"Watch the Throne" owns the second-largest opening sales week of 2011. Only Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," which topped 1 million copies sold when it debuted, had a better initial showing. SoundScan declines to break out sales by retailer, but it's no secret that the majority of "Watch the Throne" sales were courtesy of iTunes, as no other retailer was granted approval to sell the album until Friday, and the sales week ends on Sunday.
