DJ Khaled Frustrated with Billboard After Album Debuts at No. 2
DJ Khaled is not happy with his latest album sales.
Multiple sources tell Page Six that the hip-hop mogul is “fuming” at his label Epic Records after Father of Asahd failed to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
“He stormed into Epic with an entourage,” said a source. After receiving projections that he was coming in second, “he was angry and yelling” and reportedly threw a “temper tantrum.”
An industry insider said Khaled was “furious” following an aggressive promotional campaign including eight music videos and a performance on the season finale of “SNL.” “There was some nasty stuff said. Publicly, he’s all about ‘positivity,’ but there is a mean side to him that people don’t see,” said the source. “He overhyped the record and blew it up as his biggest album ever.”
He apparently blamed his label for not understanding streaming services and bundle deals. Tyler, the Creator took the No. 1 spot with his album IGOR, which was sold with merchandise bundles including apparel, stickers, and lawn signs. Khaled claims that an estimated 100,000 downloads of his album that were sold through a bundle deal with energy supplements weren’t included in his sales by Billboard.
The insider said, “Khaled was upset that his label wasn’t fighting for him and fighting for those numbers to count, which could have propelled him to No. 1. They don’t get it.”
But a source close to Khaled said the reports are overblown. “His album is almost gold and it’s not even a month old.”
Khaled’s previous two albums, 2016’s Major Key and 2017’s Grateful, both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
UPDATE: A rep for DJ Khaled calls the Page Six report inaccurate. Khaled’s frustrations were not with his label or Tyler, the Creator, and instead are from Billboard’s handling of his album sales.
Khaled was reportedly told that an estimated 100,000 downloads that were sold through a bundle deal with nutritional supplements would count towards his Billboard stats. According to The Blast, this was initially approved by Billboard before they decided to renege on their decision to include those units and “arbitrarily” disqualified his downloads from the bundle, which cost him the No. 1 spot.
Tyler, the Creator also bundled his IGOR album with merch including T-shirts and posters. He sold 165,000 equivalent album units, while Khaled moved 136,000 units of Father of Asahd.
Contrary to reports, sources say Khaled did not bring an entourage to the Epic offices and did not throw a temper tantrum. Instead, he brought his one assistant and “passionately” spoke to label executives about Billboard’s decision, which he deemed to be unfair and wrong.