Metro Boomin came through clutch this year, ending the year on a high note with the release of Heroes & Villains. The St. Louis producer kept most of the project under wraps until its release. He didn’t drop a single, just a few social media posts and a short film to kick off the campaign.
Nonetheless, Metro proved that the wait was evidently worth it. Throughout the past week, first-week sales projections for Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains increased. Industry forecasters initially projected that Heroes & Villains would move upwards of 150K in its first week. Then, those numbers increased by nearly 30K.
Billboard confirmed Metro Boomin sold 185K in his first week, topping the charts with Heroes & Villains. The producer earned his third chart-topper with his latest project, which includes star-studded appearances. John Legend, The Weeknd, Future, Chris Brown, A$AP Rocky, Young Thug, Gunna, and more appear across the 15-song tracklist.
Following the release of Heroes & Villains, Metro followed it up just days later with the Heroes Version. The re-release included the original 15 songs and the instrumental version.
Prior to this, Metro hit the top of the Billboard 200 with 2020’s Savage Mode II alongside 21 Savage. His first #1 album was his debut album, NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES.
The road to the release of Heroes & Villains didn’t come without delay. Though Metro Boomin hinted at the project’s release for a minute, he announced in late October that he wouldn’t drop on November 4th, as initially planned. Due to the number of samples used, he explained that he faced trouble clearing certain songs.
In related news, A$AP Rocky recently said that he worked closely with Metro Boomin on his next studio album, Don’t Be Dumb. During a recent interview with GQ, the Harlem rapper explained that he and Metro locked in a few records together that will likely end up on his project.
“I’m gonna put it to you like this: This next album needs to be just called Flacko Boomin, you hear me?” he said. “Most artists wanna make [collabs just because they’re hot]. For us, it’s like, that’s really my n***a.”