Chương 188: **Chapter 186: First Week Results**
"Hey, Link, do you think you can win?" Dino asked over the phone from New York.
Link, walking through the corridors of the Los Angeles Public Library, replied, "It's about album sales, not a boxing match. I can't be sure how many albums we'll sell in the first week until the results are out. Are you placing a bet?"
"Yes, I'm thinking of betting some pocket money."
"Alright, how did Mario's match go?"
"He won, of course. The first opponent was a stepping stone I arranged for him. Mario knocked him out in three rounds."
Dino said.
Link thought of Mickey Ward from *The Fighter*, who was once also a stepping stone fighter.
"Mario has a problem with his mindset. After winning, he tends to become arrogant. If you want to train him, find him some tough opponents. Challenging him might make him better."
"That seems right. Okay, I'll find him a tough opponent next time."
Dino chuckled.
Link smiled slightly, handed the phone to Anna, and walked out to the plaza in front of the library.
"Link!!"
Seeing him, thousands of fans in the plaza erupted in cheers.
Today was the first day of the second album's release, and the California album distribution company held a release event here to boost publicity.
At the event, Link performed "Keep On Movin'" and "Rainbow" from the second album and even invited Joaquin Phoenix to the stage to perform the hit song "Believer" together.
Joaquin Phoenix had previously expressed his great love for the song, particularly the line 'Pain! You made me a, you made me a believer, believer.' So, Link specially invited him as a guest for the release event.
During the performance, Phoenix held the microphone tightly, his face contorted with passion, almost overshadowing Link, the original singer.
The fans in the audience responded enthusiastically with thunderous applause.
After the concert, Link, according to the distributor's arrangement, signed albums for fans in the library's second-floor hall.
On the first day, he signed 8,600 albums at the public library, not breaking the previous record mainly due to the two-hour concert delay and the distribution employees needing to clock out.
On the first day, the second album, *Keep On Movin'*, sold 54,000 copies in record stores across the U.S. and 88,000 copies online, totaling 142,000 copies.
This was only 84,000 copies less than last week's Billboard album chart champion, *BLACK summers'night*, a very promising start with a high chance of topping the album chart for the week.
However, considering Jay-Z's *The Blueprint 3* was also about to be released, he and the distribution team couldn't afford to slack off.
The next day, he attended two signing events at the Los Angeles Central Subway Station and the city's music hall, handing out 13,500 signed albums, and once again made headlines: "The Quick-Fingered Link Returns to the Scene."
Over the next few days, he held more than ten album signing events in major U.S. cities such as New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Chicago, Las Vegas, Charleston, and invited artists like Taylor, Lana, Wiz, Mars, Lil Bobby, Selena, and Snoopy Dogg to support.
When he returned to New York for a signing event, Eminem also called, hoping to attend his signing event.
Upon meeting, Eminem explained the situation regarding *Forever*. At that time, he was holed up in the studio, and only after coming out did he realize Lil Wayne had released a single early. He himself wasn't interested in chart competition.
Link had heard rumors about a disagreement between Eminem and Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z had stepped in to prevent it from escalating into a fight.
He didn't hold anything against Eminem, as chart competition didn't harm either party.
At the New York signing event, Link and Eminem performed "Lighters" together, which received a great response.
The first-week album sales results and chart placements were now out.
"How much?"
In a Las Vegas hotel, Link and the PR team looked at Mandy, who walked in holding a file.
Mandy maintained a serious expression, making it hard to tell if she was genuinely unhappy or just pretending to be for effect.
Mandy opened the file, glanced at everyone, and said, "*Keep On Movin'* sold 427,000 copies in its first week nationwide."
"Yeah!!"
"Awesome!!"
The staff cheered and jumped up, popping champagne and spraying it around.
Link also smiled gently. Although this result was slightly lower than Taylor's second album's first-week sales, it was a huge improvement over his debut album's 97,000 copies and exceeded last week's Billboard album chart champion by over 200,000 copies. The first-week champion spot seemed secure.
However, Mandy still maintained her serious demeanor, and Link had a bad feeling. He handed her two glasses of champagne.
"We didn't get the number one spot?"
"Yes, the number one spot went to *The Blueprint 3*, with sales of 458,000 copies this week."
"Three point one thousand more than us? No wonder, he's a veteran artist."
Link admired.
He had suspected that Jay-Z was a big name in the industry, one of the wealthiest, with deep connections. After the release of *The Blueprint 3*, many top artists, film stars, and famous hosts had helped with the promotion.
Additionally, *The Blueprint 3* was the third installment of *The Blueprint* series, with a huge fan base from the previous two albums. Jay-Z's record company promoted it as the final installment, so fans of the series would definitely not miss it.
Facing such a strong opponent, selling over 400,000 copies of *Keep On Movin'*, far exceeding the predicted 300,000 copies, showed that his promotional strategy against Jay-Z was effective.
"Mandy, how are the single charts looking?"
Link asked, sipping his champagne.
"Black Eyed Peas' 'I Gotta Feeling' is still number one on the singles chart, Jay-Z's 'Empire State of Mind' is second, Maxwell's 'Pretty Wings' is third, and our 'Believer' is currently in fourth place."
Mandy said.
"The Black Eyed Peas are impressive."
The Black Eyed Peas released their latest album, *The E.N.D.*, at the end of May. Their first official single, "Boom Boom Pow," was number one on the singles chart for ten consecutive weeks before being dethroned by Jay-Z's "D.O.A." and Link's "Give Me Reason."
Their second single, "I Gotta Feeling," then took over as the number one single for seven weeks, overpowering "Empire State of Mind" and "Believer." They truly were formidable.
"But there's some good news too."
Mandy said, showing a smile reminiscent of Selena's dimples, "Although 'Believer' didn't become the number one single in its first week, eight songs from the album entered the top 100 singles chart. 'This Is Me,' 'Trouble I'm In,' and 'Keep On Movin'' entered the top twenty. We have two more songs in the top 100 compared to *The Blueprint 3*, which shows our album's high quality."
"That's indeed good news. Cheers!"
Link clinked glasses with Mandy.
(End of Chapter)
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