To prevent '' Channel Orange '' from leaking onto the Internet , Ocean planned to release it digitally one week earlier than its publicly announced date . He was inspired by Jay-Z and Kanye West , who prevented their 2011 album '' Watch the Throne '' from leaking by announcing several misleading release dates . On June 8 , Ocean announced a July 17 release date and released a trailer for the album directed by Nabil Elderkin . On July 9 , he made his television debut on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon '' and performed " Bad Religion " with backing from the show 's house band The Roots and a strings section . The show announced the album 's actual release date and vendor , Universal Music Group , who made it available on July 10 as a digital download on iTunes . Ocean said at the time , " I have n't even held one in my hands ... The CDs are done , but when we sent them in , they were locked down at the manufacturer . They have n't left . They never went on trucks to stores because that 's where things leak . " '' Channel Orange '' was sold exclusively through iTunes until July 17 , when it was released to other digital retailers . Although its wide physical release was scheduled for July 17 , Universal encouraged physical retailers to start selling it immediately after they receive shipments of the album . Retail company Target did not approve of its early release to iTunes and chose not to stock the album . Ocean 's manager Christian Clancy responded in a message on Twitter that he found it " interesting " that Target " also donates to non-equal rights organizations " , suggesting their decision was influenced by Ocean 's coming out . Target representatives dismissed Clancy 's claims as " absolutely false " in a subsequent statement to MTV News , saying that the company " supports inclusivity and diversity in every aspect of our business . Our assortment decisions are based on a number of factors , including guest demand . " '' Channel Orange '' debuted at number two on the US '' Billboard '' 200 and sold 131,000 copies in its first week . The majority of its first-week sales were digital copies from iTunes , while approximately 3,000 of the sales were physical copies . Digital copies sold for $ 2.99 at Amazon were excluded from Nielsen SoundScan 's sales data , as '' Billboard '' s chart policy disqualified albums sold for less than $ 3.49 from charting . The album sold 54,000 copies in its second week , excluding discounted copies sold by Amazon.com , which '' Billboard '' estimated to be approximately 15,000 copies . '' Channel Orange '' also debuted at number two on the British albums chart with first-week sales of 13,000 copies . It was the first album to chart within the top 20 in the United Kingdom solely on digital sales . In Canada , the album debuted at number three on first-week sales of 6,700 copies . Five singles were released from the album — " Thinkin Bout You " on April 17 , " Pyramids " on June 8 , " Sweet Life " on July 6 , " Lost " on December 17 , and " Super Rich Kids " on March 17 , 2013 . " Thinkin Bout You " became Ocean 's highest charting single in the US , peaking at number 32 on the '' Billboard '' Hot 100 . Ocean performed the song on the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards on September 6 , 2012 . and the following week , '' Channel Orange '' sold almost 14,000 more copies . Ocean also performed " Thinkin Bout You " and " Pyramids " on '' Saturday Night Live '' on September 15 , the latter of which featured John Mayer on guitar . As of September 2016 , it has sold 686,000 copies in United States
2012 MTV Video Music Awards
2012 MTV Video Music Awards
Channel Orange