Hits Daily Double is projecting that Lil Wayne's long-awaited Tha Carter V will have the third biggest opening week of the year, behind Drake's Scorpion and Travis Scott's Astroworld, and open number 1 on the album chart.

That puts it between the 434K Eminem's Kamikaze did the first week and the 537K Astroworld put up.

It should be noted the projections for both Kamikaze and Astroworld rose significantly as the week progressed and their merch/ticket packages kicked into gear. Wayne is also offering merch packages for Carter V.

Wayne's is the only projection HDD has so far, in what is the most exciting Hip Hop release week in some time. Logic's YSIV and Kevin Gates Luca Brasi 3 also dropped Thursday night and Kanye's Yahndi come sometime today. Cher's Abba cover album Dancing Queen is also expected to make a big chart debut

Wayne's last retail album was  2013's I Am Not a Human Being II, which did 217K first week. Carter IV did 961K back in 2011.