J. Cole is set to secure his seventh number one album on the Billboard charts with his new (and purportedly final) album, The Fall-Off. According to Kurrco on Twitter, updated first week sales projections for the project suggest it will move around 291K album-equivalent units in its first week, with 115K of these being pure album sales such as vinyls, CDs, and full digital copies.
This is great news for the Dreamville artist, whose initial first week sales projections for this LP suggested it would land somewhere between 260K and 300K. Cole's previous full-length, Might Delete Later moved 115K units in its first week, whereas 2021's The Off-Season secured 282K. 2018's KOD boasted 397K, 4 Your Eyez Only had 492K, and 2014 Forest Hills Drive had around 371K.
Many folks praised these numbers from J. Cole, even some of his biggest critics. For example, DJ Akademiks sees The Fall-Off's projected commercial success as proof that he's one of the "Big Three" alongside Kendrick Lamar and Drake. He also assessed that this commercial performance means that the North Carolina MC can't retire just yet.
Read More: J. Cole "The Fall-Off" Review
J. Cole's "Trunk Sale" Tour
We will see what the final numbers for this project look like once Billboard confirms their 200 albums chart soon. Whether you care about numbers or not, the love for The Fall-Off is also showing up elsewhere, so it's not the only metric fans should look at.
Elsewhere, J. Cole's "Trunk Sale" tour for The Fall-Off is captivating fans in the cities it's stopped at so far. He announced he would ride around the United States in a Honda Civic, connecting with fans in-person and selling album CDs out of his trunk.
J. Cole's next "Trunk Sale" tour stop is in New York City. Although he hasn't shared other details about this at press time, fans are very excited to see what he has in store.
With this momentum behind The Fall-Off and many more months ahead in 2026, we will see how the album's commercial and critical performance continues to evolve. For the hardcore fans and industry observers alike, this is a pretty big artistic achievement.
