computers technology: Watch The Throne Hits #1 In 23 Countries On iTunes

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Watch The Throne Hits #1 In 23 Countries On iTunes

Jay-Z/Kanye West collaboration dominates iTunes charts internationally on its first day of release.
By Rob Markman

Kanye West and Jay-Z
Photo: Getty Images

Throne Day knew no borders. When Jay-Z and Kanye West released their highly anticipated Watch the Throne LP on iTunes Monday, fans from all across the world purchased it, making the album #1 on iTunes in 23 different countries.

The physical version of WTT won't be available until August 12, but that didn't stop rap fans in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom from propelling the album to the top spot of the digital distributors chart. Adele's 21 continued to do well, snagging the #2 slot in 12 of the 23 countries where Throne dominated, but when the official sales numbers come in next week, it is likely that Hov and Yeezy will sit atop the Billboard albums chart.

Watch the Throne surprisingly avoided an online leak, and when it dropped on Monday, it dominated Twitter, spawning numerous trending topics on the social networking site. "#WTT," "#Watch The Throne" and "throneday" all trended at some point as well as individual songs from the album like "Who Gon Stop Me," "No Church in the Wild" and "N---as in Paris."

See what music industry experts had to say about Watch the Throne.

While there were quite a few low-key marketing tactics surrounding the Throne release, it is notable that the album was dropped with no video or smash single as fans have come to expect from Jay and Kanye. "Otis," though met with rave reviews, didn't exactly scream top 40 radio, but then again artists of Jigga and 'Ye's stature can get away with that.

Check out how Jay-Z and Kanye West's Throne Defies Radio Rules

"The first single, 'Otis,' if you wanna call it a single, it's not a radio record but it's been added on so many different radio stations, which I think is dope," MTV2 Sucker Free's DJ Envy said. "You still play it in the club, and it's a hot record."

Shade 45's DJ Wonder agreed. "With Jay-Z and Kanye, they're so iconic that it's not going to make a difference what they decided to do; people are gonna want it," he said.

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