RIRI’S ROCKY ROLLOUT

Rihanna’s ANTI entered the Billboard 200 this week at #27 with a combined total of just under 16k—a debut hardly fitting for an artist of her stature. But she’ll be #1 on our charts when they’re finalized tomorrow morning.

The much-delayed project was originally to be made available a day ahead of its 1/29 release date to Samsung Galaxy owners. As part of a deal worth $30m, Samsung would give away 1m albums while Tidal would stream the album on Thursday, 1/28. But then the album leaked, when Tidal itself made ANTI available to purchase, even though only for a few minutes. This resulted in less than 500 units being sold—not enough for the album to chart on its own, but when combined with track sales and streams, it landed ANTI in an inauspicious position just outside the Top 25.

After Tidal started selling the album, Rihanna tweeted out the link to a free download of ANTI on the Tidal site. This move inadvertently sabotaged Samsung’s planned exclusive giveaway, for which the electronics giant is believed to have paid around $5 a unit. Because of Samsung’s purchase, ANTI was certified platinum by the RIAA on release.

Tidal is blaming UMG for the leak, while UMG points back to Tidal and disavows any responsibility. Both have claimed the leak was due to technical problems, although neither has offered any specifics. In any case, the reality is a less than stellar chart debut for one of the world’s biggest musical brands—delighting the Beyoncé-obsessed BeyHive fan site, of course. As the Billboard 200 is now the public-facing chart, heads are being scratched as some wonder how much damage has been done by the botched rollout.