Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” Projected To Block J. Cole’s “Might Delete Later” From Debuting At No. 1

J. Cole’s controversial Might Delete Later seemed to be on pace to open at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard 200 chart. However, the latest projections have the Fayetteville native losing the top spot to Beyoncé.

According to HitsDailyDouble, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album will remain at No. 1 with 131,000 units in its second week of release. Might Delete Later is set to debut in second place. J. Cole’s mixtape looks to rack up around 118,000 units.

HDD previously reported Might Delete Later‘s first-week projections at 140,000 to 160,000 equivalent album units. Cole currently has six Billboard 200 chart-toppers. The final official sales numbers for those weekly rankings come out on Sunday.

Might Delete Later generated a lot of buzz in the Hip-Hop world because of the closing track. J. Cole used “7 Minute Drill” as a response record to Kendrick Lamar’s viral diss verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” single.

Surprisingly, J. Cole apologized for releasing “7 Minute Drill” during his set at the 2024 Dreamville Festival in the rapper’s home state of North Carolina. He also removed the song from the Might Delete Later tracklist on streaming services.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter became the music icon’s eighth Number One when the studio LP launched at the pinnacle of the Billboard 200 chart. Cowboy Carter set the 2024 record for best first-week opening with 407,000 album-equivalent units.