News of February 21, 1996
"All Eyez on Me" Debuts at No. 1 With 566,000 Copies Sold
More than the next five albums combined: Tupac's double album sold 566,000 copies in its first week and reached No. 1 in February 1996.
The first album after his imprisonment became Tupac’s greatest commercial success during his lifetime. All Eyez on Me, released on Death Row in mid-February 1996, sold 566,000 copies in its first week, more than the next five albums combined. On February 21, it reached the top of the US charts; Billboard listed it at No. 1 on the chart dated March 2. Among double CDs, only the Beatles’ Anthology had started stronger the previous year.
Ten Million Dollars in One Week
The Los Angeles Times calculated that the songs grossed around ten million dollars in seven days, asking what the campaign against gangsta rap had actually accomplished. Six months earlier, Time Warner had parted ways with Interscope under pressure from C. DeLores Tucker. On the album, Tupac mentioned her and Senator Bob Dole by name.
The newspaper’s critic had called the double album with 27 songs and 133 minutes of playing time “bitter, remorseless, brilliant” in advance and singled out I Ain’t Mad at Cha as possibly the best song of his career.