Mac Miller’s ‘Faces’ Makes Record-Breaking Vinyl Debut

Mac Miller’s fan-favorite Faces mixtape debuts across multiple Billboard album charts (dated Oct. 30), including at No. 3 on Top Album Sales and at No. 1 on Vinyl Albums, following its commercial release on Oct. 15. The mixtape was initially released for free in 2014 but wasn’t commercially issued or distributed to streaming services until Oct. 15, 2021.

The album sold 34,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 21, according to MRC Data, enabling its bow at No. 1 on Top Album Sales. Of that sum, 2,000 were sold as digital album downloads, while 32,000 were sold on vinyl LP. The latter marks the largest sales week on vinyl for an R&B/hip-hop effort, or rap album, since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991.

Previously, the largest sales week for an R&B/hip-hop set on vinyl, since 1991, was the debut frame of Prince’s recent Welcome 2 America album (22,000; chart dated Aug. 14, 2021). Further, Faces snags the largest sales week for a rap album on vinyl – again, since 1991 – beating the previous high, held by the vinyl arrival of Miller’s own Circles on wax (16,000; chart dated June 13, 2020).

Faces is the eighth top 10 on Top Album Sales for the late artist, who died in 2018. On the Vinyl Albums chart, Faces is Miller’s fourth No. 1, following K.I.D.S. (Kickin Incredibly Dope Shit) and Circles in 2020 and Swimming in 2018. Faces also arrives at No. 3 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums and the all-genre Billboard 200, as well as at No. 2 on Tastemaker Albums. (The latter ranks the top-selling albums of the week at independent and small-chain record stores.)