Following a first quarter that saw a hesitant release schedule across the biz,
John Janick’s
Interscope is catching fire ahead of a blockbuster summer.
April included two #1s debuts, from
Alamo/
Geffen’s
Rod Wave and
CMG/
N-less'
Moneybagg Yo, and May appears to be filled with more chart-topping albums, with Bagg’s
A Gangsta’s Pain likely logging a second week at #1 this week as
Dreamville/
Roc Nation superstar
J. Cole waits on deck with
The Off-Season (5/14), which is almost certainly headed for a monster first week (2018’s
KOD opened with just under 400k).
Then there's Geffen sensation
Olivia Rodrigo, who will release her debut album,
SOUR, on 5/21 following performances on the
BRITs and
SNL, while season 2 of
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series hits
Disney+ today (5/14). The next-gen pop star has the year’s biggest song in “driver’s license.” Second single “déjà vu” proved "license" was no fluke.
And in late July, Gen Z icon
Billie Eilish will release her sophomore full-length,
Happier Than Ever (
Darkroom/Interscope). Since her last album, the phenom has swept the 2020
Grammys, taken 2021 SOTY, dropped a critically acclaimed documentary and broken the Internet multiple times.
Beyond their all-but-assured #1 debuts, all of these albums have the potential to stick around at least until school is back in session.
