Chris Brown has declared on Twitter that he will hang his dancing shoes soon. Entertainment Weekly (EW) surmised that the 2009 domestic abuse case with ex-girlfriend Rihanna on Grammys night that Brown has referred to as his "mistake when he was 18" may have triggered the early retirement announcement.

The public misdemeanor charge may have only slighted Brown's record and single sales the very least after 2009. Data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) revealed that Brown sold at least 300,000 units copies in the US, but have not made significant sales of his singles in order to warrant a Gold accreditation. Meanwhile, overseas sales, like in Australia, saw a lot of fans rooting for Brown. 2011 and 2012 singles earned not lower than a Double Platinum label, according to Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An artist needs to sell at least 1 million copies in order to gain Platinum status.

The hip hop industry has been very lucrative for many artists after Chris Brown. A few years ago, sales were recorded at a high US$1.8 billion. Even with the advent of digital music and piracy, EW deduced that Sony is confident that Brown's 'X' will pull a strong market performance based on his sales figures. Singles are priced at US$1.29, and albums are priced at US$18.98, not discounting individual agreements with distributors.