The United Kingdom loves Drake, as his three-day Wireless Festival slot last year proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. Ahead of his upcoming Billboard debuts in the United States for his trilogy of new albums, he just set a new milestone in the UK with the triple release.
Per Billboard, ICEMAN debuted at number one in the country's Official Albums Chart today (Friday, May 22). MAID OF HONOUR reportedly landed at number six, and HABIBTI landed at number seven. This makes the Toronto superstar the first artist in the chart's history to debut three studio albums simultaneously in the chart's top ten.
Ironically enough, Prince achieved something similar in 1993 by having three compilations in the chart's top ten. Michael Jackson and Prince, not to mention their comparison and rivalry, were big lyrical reference points for Drizzy during his battle with Kendrick Lamar.
ICEMAN is now his seventh chart-topping album in the UK, and its "Janice STFU" and "National Treasures" tracks landed at numbers two and three respectively on the UK's Official Singles Chart.
Read More: Drake "HABIBTI" & "MAID OF HONOUR" Review
Drake's First Week Sales Projections
This UK chart news follows Drake's anticipated takeover of the Billboard charts, both for songs and albums. First week sales for the trilogy are almost officially in, and fans have been waiting to see which tracks rank high.
Projections indicate ICEMAN will go number one with 475K album-equivalent units sold, followed by MAID OF HONOUR and HABIBTI at either two or three with about 120K units each. This would make him the first artist in history to take up Billboard's top three positions on the 200 albums chart with three simultaneous studio album debuts.
As for Drake's new songs, he could take up all but one of the Hot 100's top 15, according to early projections. Even if the numbers look a little different when it's all said and done, it would still be an impressive feat.
Meanwhile, all of this is going down as fans continue to dissect the albums, discuss them, and look forward to the next moves. On both sides of the pond and much further beyond, the ICEMAN trilogy is spinning.
