Videos by According2HipHop
J. Cole dropped his seventh studio album, The Fall Off, in February. It was one of the most anticipated rap albums of the year, and the first week sales projections just solidified that.
Akademiks Offers Perspective on Cole’s First Week Numbers
According to Chart Data, Cole’s new album is expected to see between 280k and 300k units in its first week. If that holds serve, Cole will have gone a perfect seven for seven with number one albums on the Billboard Hot 200.
Amid the rollout for The Fall Off, Cole has spoken on retirement several times. But hip-hop personality, DJ Akademiks, believes that the first week sales projections are further proof that it isn’t time for him to bid the game adieu.
“Him being in the big three, clearly selling over 200, is a prerequisite. I do believe that anything over 220 would be good. 250 I thought was gonna be pretty cool as well, but him doing 300 shows that, number one, he can’t retire. There’s a lot of demand for him, even though he claims he’s gonna be taking a step back,” Akademiks said during a recent livestream.
Dj akademiks reacts to J.Cole album the fall off projected to sell 300k first week pic.twitter.com/ZLtj4CvQJC
— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@chatnigga101) February 11, 2026
Akademiks went on to say that Cole’s first week numbers also dispel the notion that music sales are declining.
“I think 300 is a really dope number for him. It also helps establish that, as people keep saying that music and sales are down, if we’re talking about the big three,” continued. “I think J. Cole and Kendrick are around the same level in terms of sales. I don’t think consistently. I think J. Cole just hasn’t dropped in a while, and this was hyped up as maybe the last. It’s the fall-off. But, I think if Kendrick had dropped, which Kendrick supposedly is going to be dropping, Kendrick, I believe he would be in that 300 range as well. I think Drake would be in the 500/600 range.”
