The Weeknd 'Dawn FM' Sales Under Scrutiny As Billboard Blames Chart Delay On 'Suspicious' Data

January 18, 2022

The Weeknd has been having an eventful week following the release of his latest studio album, Dawn FM. The project exceeded expectations with a huge debut and was initially believed to enter the Billboard 200 at No. 1.

Things changed, however, as Billboard reported there would be a delay in announcing the chart numbers due to the observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but it seems like there was more to that than what they were putting out.

On Monday (January 17), Chart Data tweeted a response from Billboard that explained the weird delay in announcing the new numbers for the week. According to Billboard, there was suspicious activity going on.

“Billboard in regards to the delay of this week’s albums chart: ‘…In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation. This can cause delays in publishing,'” Chart Data tweeted.

Billboard in regards to the delay of this week's albums chart:

"…In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation. This can cause delays in publishing."

— chart data (@chartdata) January 18, 2022

"…In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to the final calculation. This can cause delays in publishing."

— chart data (@chartdata) January 18, 2022



It’s unclear what caused the “suspicious” data to delay the charts, but some fans are looking at The Weeknd and the unorthodox release tactics he used for Dawn FM. No physical copies of the project were released in the first week, and there was no real promotional run prior to the album dropping, yet The Weeknd was able to acquire millions of streams once Dawn FM dropped.

The Weeknd unleashed an expanded version of his album titled Dawn FM (Alternate World) that featured three new tracks in the middle of the first week the original dropped. On January 13, the final day of the tracking week, Abel released three collector’s digital album variants for Dawn FM on his official website and he’s allegedly dropping actual physical copies on January 28.

Despite the controversy, Gunna squeezed by and grabbed the top spot from The Weeknd with his new album DS4Ever, and he’s enjoying every minute of it.

Stream Gunna’s DS4Ever and The Weeknd’s Dawn FM below. 

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