Top Spot: J. Cole's Born Sinner Is No. 1 Album In The Country

It happened a bit tardily, but J. Cole's sophomore album, Born Sinner, is now the no. 1 album in the country. 

Also worth noting, Cole's new album has now sold more total copies than Kanye West's latest project, Yeezus. Despite both Born Sinner and Yeezus dropping on the same day, June 18, it's the former that has maintained slightly stronger support at registers and legal download outlets. 

Reports Billboard: While J. Cole's "Born Sinner" was initially blocked from No. 1 on the Billboard 200, he celebrates his second No. 1 this week. In its third week on the chart, "Born Sinner" rises 2-1 with 58,000 sold (down 32%, according to Nielsen SoundScan). The set spent its first two weeks at No. 2—first stuck behind an also-debuting "Yeezus" from Kanye West, and then lodged behind Wale's "The Gifted" a week ago. 

To date, "Born Sinner" has sold 439,000 copies, this week surpassing the cumu Hip-Hop Wiredlative sum of his original competition, "Yeezus" (431,000). Born Sinner sold 58,000 more copies this week, Wale's The Gifted 50,000 in its second week out while Yeezus sold 39,000, good enough to no. 3 on the Billboard 200 Album Sales chart. Cole spending two weeks as a runner up and then leapfrogging up a notch it no small feat.

Albums rarely climb to No. 1, as opposed to debuting in that slot. Since the chart started using more exact Nielsen SoundScan sales data on May 25, 1991, the vast majority of No. 1 albums were chart-toppers because they debuted there. It's unusual for an album to rise to the top, as most titles have their best sales weeks during their debut frame. And many albums cannot sustain momentum after their debut—at least not enough to compete with newer albums. The Roc Nation rapper will surely enjoy this moment.

Fans Go Wayyyy To Far: J. Cole Given A Choice By Gun Toting Fan

TMZ Reports: Rapper J. Cole was extorted by a sick fan who tweeted a photo of a little girl with a gun to her head ... and claimed he would shoot her if Cole did not respond to his message.

The fan tweeted last night "@JColeNC retweet me and I'll buy Born Sinner. Don't retweet me and I'll kill my lil sister."

Shortly after the threatening tweet, which refers to Cole's new album ... Cole did indeed retweet the message.

It's unclear if the gun is real or where the twisted bastard behind the tweet actually lives. The account, which we're not revealing, claims to be out of Saudi Arabia -- but the truth is it could be anywhere in the world.

We reached out to police in North Carolina -- where J. Cole lives -- to see if they were investigating ... but they hadn't heard anything about it.

This morning the rapper commented about the incident, saying ... "Wildest s**t I ever seen on twitter.
"

Compete? We'll See: J. Cole Talks Moving Up Album Release To Compete With Kanye West

J. Cole announced he's moving up the release date of his upcoming album, "Born Sinner" to June 18. Initially, his sophomore album was slated for July. Coincidentally, June 18 is also the day that Kanye West debuts his sixth solo studio album, "Yeezus."

"Kanye West is one of the greatest artists of our generation. Which is exactly why I'm moving my release date up," he tweeted.

Soon after the announcement, J. Cole told Billboard's The Juice that not only was he aware of Kanye West's "Yeezus" release date, but once someone confirmed it, he decided to move up "Born Sinner" to June 18 to compete. "Instantly the lightbulb [turned on]... it got real. I made one phone call to somebody that would know, just to make sure first. As soon as I got it confirmed, I was like, 'Yo…' The idea hit me instantly: 'You got to go to that date,'" he said.

"I'm not going to sit [here]... I worked too hard to come a week later after Kanye West drops an amazing album. It'd be like, 'Oh and J.Cole dropped too, a week later.' Nah. I'm going to go see him on that date. He's the greatest. So it's like, I'm a competitor by nature so it was instant, it wasn't even a thought," the Roc Nation artist continued.

J.Cole's competitive move is testament to how strongly he believes in himself and his full-length opus: "It's a definite statement about how I feel about my album, which is confident."

Going up against Kanye West -- and Mac Miller's "Watching Movies With the Sound Off" album which also comes out on June 18 -- is strictly competitve for J. Cole and far from anything but so. "At the same time, let's not forget this is Kanye West. He bets 100, 1,000, whatever the perfect is. His track record is flawless. I'm only expecting an incredible album from him," he said.