Magna Carta... Holy Grail

Magna Carta… Holy Grail is the twelfth studio album by rapper JAY-Z. It was JAY-Z’s 13th consecutive studio album to top the Billboard 200 chart, debuting at #1 after selling 1,528,000 certified copies in its first week. Upon release the album had the biggest first week for an album in Spotify history with a reported 14 million album-streams in the United States alone; and tallied the most streams-per-day in Spotify history.

The album was promoted through various commercials produced by Samsung, and was not preceded by any retail singles. The 4x Platinum-certified “Holy Grail,” the Platinum-certified “Tom Ford” and the Gold-certified “Part II (On the Run)” would be released over the next six months after the album’s release.

The album features guest appearances by Justin Timberlake, Nas, Rick Ross, Frank Ocean and Beyoncé. The majority of the album was produced by Timbaland and his frequent collaborator Jerome “J-Roc” Harmon. Other producers included Boi-1da, Mike Will Made It, Hit-Boy, Mike Dean, No I.D., The-Dream, Swizz Beatz, and Pharrell Williams, among others.

Magna Carta… Holy Grail was made available for free digital download for one million Samsung customers via the “JAY-Z Magna Carta” app on July 4, 2013, and was released for retail sale on July 8, 2013, by Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation.

On September 2, 2013 Magna Carta… Holy Grail was certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over two million. The album was nominated in six categories at the 2014 Grammy Awards, winning the “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” trophy for the 4x Platinum single “Holy Grail.”