Kanye West’s ‘Donda 2’ Album Isn’t Eligible For the Billboard Charts Due to a Technicality
Kanye West debuted his Donda 2 album on Feb. 22, 2022, with a concert in Miami. But because of the album’s unique rollout, don’t expect to see it on the Billboard charts any time soon.
Kanye ‘Ye’ West released ‘Donda 2’ on his Stem Player
Ahead of Donda 2‘s release, West declared that the album wouldn’t be available on streaming services, and only available to listen to on his Stem Player product. The small device was launched in 2021, but Donda 2 is the first time West has released an album exclusively on the Stem Player.
West called the device a crucial part of the “anti-streaming revolution” against the “oppressive system” of music streaming platforms.
The device is available for $200 and allows users to break down Donda 2 as well as any music of their own into various parts such as vocals and melody.
‘Donda 2’ can’t hit the Billboard charts because the Stem Player is considered merch
West decided to forego a $100 million deal with Apple Music and move forward with releasing Donda 2 on the Stem Player. Now, that move will cost him placements on the Billboard charts.
West said in an Instagram post ahead of Donda 2‘s release that he had already sold 39,500 Stem Players to date, for total net sales upwards of $8.6 million. But because of the Stem Player’s unique capabilities, it doesn’t technically qualify as an album-equivalent unit.
According to Billboard, Donda 2 isn’t eligible for the Billboard charts because “the album is being sold with a device that can be used for other means besides the playing of the album. As such, the Stem/Donda package would fall within Billboard’s latest merch bundle policy, where albums sold with merchandise are not chart eligible.”
West hasn’t signaled that he cares about chart placements, but Donda 2 would undoubtedly make a splash. The first Donda album moved 300,000 units in its first week and became his tenth consecutive LP to top the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Billboard changed their policy because of Tekashi 6ix9ine
Billboard’s policy about merch bundles is a relatively recent change. The rules were created in 2020 after rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine attempted to game the system to boost sales of his sophomore album TattleTales. He encouraged his fans to buy merch bundles that included the album. This resulted in over 100,000 album-equivalent units being disqualified and prevented 6ix9ine from notching his first No. 1 album.
“Everybody was against me,” 6ix9ine told Billboard after it happened. “Radio blackballed me. Playlists blackballed me. I feel like Billboard was mad because I said, ‘How can you still buy bundles?’ You think if I buy some lip gloss right now and I bought a Travis Scott album, is that fair to all the hardworking people who worked on their album?”
