‘Church Clothes 3’ Numbers in; Did Streams Kill or Help Lecrae’s Record Sales?

It’s been two weeks since Lecrae dropped his surprise album Church Clothes 3, and in that time he’s sold around 36,000 records.

The long-awaited Church Clothes 3 Mixtape was dropped seemingly out the blue and is the follow up to 2013’s Volume 2.

His simple Facebook message read, “I heard some requests for #CC3. Now on Apple Music: lecrae.cta.gs/07s

Despite initially hitting number seven on the charts, the sales for the record have been less than stellar, with a reported 29,207 sales in its first week and another 7,514 in week two. The numbers certainly don’t reflect the standard Lecrae is used to, especially after the success of Anomaly. Perhaps in this instance, the record caught too many by surprise, and in week three the numbers will pick up as more of the fanbase hears about it.

For the sake of comparison, let’s break down the first week numbers of his other releases.

Anomaly – 88,299

Gravity – 72,473

Church Clothes 2 – 15,000

Rehab: The Overdose – 21,000

Rehab – 25,864

Rebel – 9,800

On a positive note, the album was streamed over three million times in its first week, according to HipHopDX. While streams are often frowned upon, they pushed Lecrae to the #1 spot.

CC3 debuted as the #1 Rap/Hip Hop album on the Billboard charts, and also charted as the #1 Independent album, #3 Digital album, #7 on the Albums chart and #12 on the Top 200 Album Chart.

Church Clothes 3 be digitally purchased through Reach Records and is streaming across all DSPs including iTunes. DTLR stores are exclusively carrying the physical release.

S1 (Kanye West, Jay-Z), was the executive producer of the album. CC3 features guests E-40, N’Dambi, Propaganda, John Givez, JGivens, Jackie Hill Perry and KB.

Church Clothes 3 Track Listing:

1. Freedom ft. N’Dambi (prod. by S1 / Co-prod. by Epikh Pro & VohnBeatz)

2. Gangland ft. Propaganda (prod. by S1 /Co-prod. by Shindo)

3. Deja Vu (prod. by S1)

4. Sidelines (prod. by Mykalife and Ryan Righteous)

5. Cruising (prod. by S1 / Co-prod. by Epikh)

6. It Is What It Is (prod. by S1 / Co-prod. by Epikh)

7. Can’t Do You ft. E-40 (prod. by Black Knight)

8. Forever (prod. by S1)

9. Misconceptions 3 ft. John Givez, JGivens, Jackie Hill Perry (prod. by S1)

10. I Wouldn’t Know ft. KB (prod. by GAWVI)

Lecrae also dropped a long form video to accompany the album, watch below:

The Higher Learning Tour was announced this month, and tickets are now on sale. The tour features special guest DJ Promote, and on certain dates, Propaganda, Swoope and Liz Vice. The tour begins February 9, 2016, and is stopping at more than 30 college campuses and in college towns across the country.

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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