Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' has been downloaded quite a lot illegally

It should shock nobody, given the exclusive nature of its release, but Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ / ‘Blond’ / whatever-you-call-it has been downloaded illegally ‘rather a lot’ since its release at the weekend.

According to Music Business Worldwide - citing data provided by “content protection, data-analytics and ‘piracy audience reconnection’ specialist MUSO” - the record has been downloaded illegally 753,849 times. And that figure was at midday UK time yesterday. Could be 753,850 now. At least!

It’s not all bad, though. ‘Blonde’ is still expected to be a chart smash, with US projections suggesting between 250,000 and 300,000 ‘equivalent album units’ shifted - more than enough to grab the top spot.

Might be 753,851 now.