Update: City Girls’ “RAW” officially debuts at No. 117 on the Billboard 200 with 10,000 units moved in its first week.
City Girls dropped their third album, “RAW,” on October 20th. Despite their popularity on social media, the duo of JT and Yung Miami continues to struggle musically. Early projections indicate that the album is on pace to move only 6-8k units in its first week, despite featuring artists such as Lil Durk, Usher, and Juicy J.
“RAW,” which stands for “Real A** Wh*res,” debuted with over 801K streams on Spotify on Friday and has received over 30 MILLION streams in total. However, it is important to note that streaming numbers do not directly translate into album sales.
City Girls’ last album, 2020’s “City On Lock,” sold about 20K units in its first week. The poor performance of “RAW” highlights the recent online discussion about the decline in hip-hop album sales. To put it in context, Coi Leray’s sophomore album “Coi” sold a disappointing 10K units, and Soulja Boy’s “Soulja Season” album reportedly sold 500 units in its opening week. Other recent female rap albums that have flopped include Saweetie’s “The Single Life” EP (which did 2000 in its first week) and Chlöe Baily’s debut album “In Pieces” (which sold 10K units in its opening week).
There are a number of factors that could have contributed to the poor performance of “RAW.” Some fans have suggested that the album lacked promotion, while others have criticized its content. The changing musical landscape could also be a factor, as City Girls’ style of music is no longer as popular as it once was.
Whatever the reason for the album’s flop, fans are sharing their disappointment on social media.
“Let’s be honest. The rollout for city girls raw album was terrible. The promotion was nonexistent. The lead single was barely pushed by QC,” one fan tweeted. “They won’t release a new city girl album any time soon. It’ll be solo projects and different ventures until they ‘reunite’ in 3 years.”
“I honestly thought the City Girls had more pull than Coi Leray but 6-8k units is pure insanity… them Instagram likes dont mean shit if you can’t do your job and SELL RECORDS,” another fan wrote.
Some fans, however, are defending the album’s performance.
“city girls selling 6k not even bad to me.. they dont walk around and brag about their stats,” one fan tweeted. “they’ve never been “those” girls.”
What do you think of City Girls’ new album?
