When Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign announced their joint album in October 2023, it immediately raised a few eyebrows. However, following their star-studded listening parties around the world helped to build a buzz around the project. Now, it appears that all of the musicians’ promotional efforts have paid off. Today (February 18), it has been revealed that Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign’s Vultures 1 has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Despite accessibility issues, the outlet confirmed that the controversial body of work pulled in significant numbers. According to Billboard, the metrics for Vultures 1 are 148,000 total units for the week ending on February 15. This number comprises 129,000 streaming-equivalent album units (equaling 167.78 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), 18,000 album sales, and 1,000 track-equivalent album units (album or song downloads).
Vultures 1 was initially released on February 9 after multiple delays. After its release, fans quickly took to social media to report having difficulties playing the 16-track project on streaming. By February 15, Vultures 1 was removed in totality from Apple Music. That wasn’t the only problem surrounding the project. Ozzy Osbourne slammed West’s sample usage of his song “War Pigs.” Donna Summer’s estate accused West of copyright infringement for including elements similar to the late singer’s record. Even, Nicki Minaj refused to clear a verse for the album.
None of this seems to have derailed Kanye West’s vision as he announced plans to release two more editions of the album.
