DJ Khaled Billboard Chart Controversy

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Overview

DJ Khaled Billboard Chart Controversy refers to an ongoing dispute between DJ Khaled and Billboard regarding how Billboard counted Khaled sale's numbers for his album Father of Asahd. Billboard officially announced that in its first week of release, the album sold 136,000 units, second behind Tyler, the Creator's IGOR, which sold 165,000 units. However, Khaled argues that some of his sales went uncounted because they came as part of bundle packages which included nutritional supplements, escalating to Khaled threatening a lawsuit against Billboard.

Background

On May 27th, 2019, it was announced that Tyler, the Creator's IGOR had debuted at number one on the Billboard charts^[1] with roughly 165,000 “equivalent” album sales to Khaled's 136,000 for Father of Asahd. Billboard's metrics for deciding "equivalent" album sales include Spotify streams as well as full-album purchases. Of the latter, IGOR outsold Father of Asahd 74,000-34,000, though they had a roughly similar number of overall streams. Both albums were also promoted with bundle packages: IGOR sold with t-shirts, stickers, and "VOTE IGOR" lawn signs, and Father of Asahd was bundled with energy drinks and other nutritional supplements.

Developments

Khaled's bundles were later reported to be discounted by Billboard after the publication discovered that part of the campaign included encouragement of bulk buying, citing "the marketing by Shop.com and its corporate parent, Market America, had crossed a line by encouraging unauthorized bulk sales. One blog post from the company, for example, told its members to buy 12 packages to 'push DJ Khaled and Market America to No. 1!'"^[3] Billboard also had admitted that not all of Khaled's sales counted.^[5]

Khaled was reportedly furious at not achieving the number one spot.^[2] He reportedly stormed into the Epic Records offices with an entourage in the midst of "a temper tantrum," reportedly unhappy with Epic not understanding how bundle sales worked. He appeared to subtly insult Tyler, the Creator in a since-deleted Instagram post where he said:

I make albums so people can play it and you actually hear it. You know, driving your car, you hear another car playing it. You know, go to the barbershop, you hear them playing it. You know, turn the radio on, and you hear them playing it. It’s called great music. It’s called albums that you actually hear the songs. Not no mysterious shit that you never hear it.

However, Khaled would later clarify he has "no beef" with Tyler, only with Billboard.^[4] The Blast reported that Khaled's bundle sales were initially approved by Billboard but changed their ruling without telling Khaled's team before the release. The Blast also disputed the earlier reports of Khaled's "temper tantrum." On June 10th, Page Six^[7] reported that Khaled was planning a "monster lawsuit" against Billboard.

Two weeks after the release date, Father of Asahd hit number one in Billboard's Hip-Hop and R&B chart.^[6] Khaled posted about the news to his Instagram, saying "I’m in the music bizz not bundle bizz."