J-Hope is about to start an exciting chapter of his career in only a few days. The BTS member is planning on dropping a new album, and it’s accompanied by another special project. He is a global superstar, and he remains incredibly popular–even as he’s away from the public eye for a short while–but fans shouldn’t expect his latest release to hit No. 1 in America.
On Friday (March 29), J-Hope will release Hope on the Street Vol. 1. The album is set to feature half a dozen new tunes, including collaborations with some fellow well-known artists, like Nile Rodgers and even his BTS bandmate Jung Kook. In some circumstances, there may be a chance that this short project could make a play for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S., but that is all but out for the question this time around.
On the same day, Beyoncé is set to release her new album, Cowboy Carter. The singer is giving the world the second part of her trilogy of albums, with the first being Renaissance, which dropped in the summer of 2022.
There are very few musicians in the world who could give Beyoncé a run for her money, and none of them are releasing albums on March 29. That’s not to say that J-Hope’s latest won’t be a commercial success. In fact, it may very well bring the musician to a new high on the Billboard 200–but he won’t be able to best Bey’s latest.
J-Hope’s last album Jack in the Box gave him his first top 10 on the Billboard 200 this past August. The set was re-released with additional tracks, and it racked up 50,000 equivalent units–enough to place it at No. 6.
For comparison, Beyoncé’s Renaissance launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 a little less than two years ago. That dance set opened with 332,000 equivalent units. That’s more than six times the largest total that Jack in the Box managed in a single frame, so it’s clear which one of the two artists’ last releases would win in a race.
Cowboy Carter has even more going for it than the track record of the artist behind it. The set has already produced a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. Beyoncé dropped the first two tracks from the project just after the Super Bowl, and “Texas Hold ‘Em” eventually climbed to the summit on the ranking of the most-consumed songs in the U.S.
J-Hope’s album accompanies a new docuseries with a similar title, Hope on the Street. The show sees him traveling the world to explain his love of dance, which he has stated is one of his favorite things in the world. The program debuts on March 27, two days before the musical collection, and that promotional plan may help the album open with a larger sum than ever before.
