'The Life Of Pablo' To Debut Number 1 On Billboard

Kanye West's The Life Of Pablo has probably had the most unusual rollout in music history.

But it's still ending up number 1 on the Billboard album charts.

Pablo was finally freed from TIDAL and released on all streaming services April 1. In its first week, it gathered 90,000 equivalent album units, which will give it the number one spot.

This is the first solid accounting we've had of the album's popularity.

TIDAL had claimed the album was streamed 250 million times in its first ten days. However those numbers seem to defy logic, given TIDAL's small customer base.

There were also reports that the album was illegally downloaded 500,000 times. However such numbers can't be verified.

But there's no doubt Ye's album was streamed on TIDAL and illegally downloaded many times in its six weeks prior to being eligible for the Billboard charts. And that makes the 90,000 TLOP was able to put up in its first "official" week all the more impressive.