Jay-Z’s album 4:44 is officially not platinum; He sold much less than 500,000

So Jay-Z lied about his album’s numbers. No surprise there. The aging rapper is known to stretch the truth about his numbers, including his age.

According to BuzzAngle, Jay-Z’s current album, 4:44, actually sold much less than 500,000 copies or downloads.

4:44 did not reach platinum status, despite the RIAA issuing him a platinum plaque for that photo op last month.

Jay-Z’s people claimed the rap mogul’s album was downloaded or streamed aver a million times in one week. But even that is a lie.

“The fact that 4:44 has sold so much less than 500,000 is startling,” writes Roger Friedman on his Showbiz411 blog.

According to BuzzAngle, 4:44 has sold a total of 264,100 albums. That includes CDs and downloads but not streaming. If you count in streaming, including singles, the number still comes only to 364,000.

This is a far cry from the 500,000 level that the RIAA requires for a gold record, and 1 million copies shipped for platinum. Still, the RIAA awarded Jay Z a platinum album based on private sales through Tidal streaming and direct deliveries to Sprint customers.

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