After the first week of April shaking up the charts, last week was more about releases settling into place. Usher gave up his #1 to Justin Bieber, as divorce ode Raymond v. Raymond adjusted comfortably at #2, losing by a margin of 10,000. The LaFace Records project could likely touch gold next Wednesday, with a strong third week outing.


Monica held #6 for a third straight week with her Still Standing. The J Records artist crossed the 250,000 mark, with an album that features production from Missy Elliott and Jim Jonsin. Monica’s Atlanta neighbor Ludacris, who appears on Still Standing, also crossed the 250,000 mark Battle of the Sexes. The DTP/Def Jam release also held his #11 spot from the week before.

Erykah Badu slid five spots to #9 with her acclaimed “part two” release in her New Amerykah series. The championed follow-up maintains her production roster Hip Hop-based luminaries such as 9th Wonder, Madlib, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Georgia Anne Muldrow and the late J. Dilla.

The Black Eyed Peas budged to the #13 spot with The E.N.D. The release is soon to turn a year old, having already found double-platinum domestic status for the veteran Interscope Records group.

* Please note: figures below approximated to nearest thousandth.

Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)

Rank Artist Album This Week Est. Total
2 Usher Raymond v. Raymond
 92,000 422,000
6 Monica Still Standing
 38,000 304,000
9 Erykah Badu New Amerykah Part Two 30,000 140,000
11 Ludacris Battle of the Sexes
 26,000 310,000
13 Black Eyed Peas The E.N.D. 25,000 2,411,000

Lil Wayne took his Rebirth to gold this past week. The experimental Auto-Tune-heavy release crossed the 500,000 unit mark domestically, making it a rapper’s first 2010 release to do so. Currently serving on Rikers Island in New York, Wayne has yet to release a statement on the benchmark.

Wu-Tang Clan member trio Ghostface Killah, Method Man & Raekwon‘s Wu-Massacre fell 25 places to #37. Crossing the 50,000 unit mark next week, the warmly-received project features special packaging and production from RZA and Mathematics.

E-40 had three chart entries last week. The double-packaging of Revenue Retrievin’ left the Top 200 this week, and Revenue Retrievin’ Night Shift pulled in front of Revenue Retrievin’ Day Shift , the inverse of last week’s results. Between both releases (at #100 and #108 respectively), the Vallejo veteran sold nearly 10,000 units last week.

 

On their descent from the charts, two former adversaries almost shared chart real estate last week. In his Interscope departure, 50 Cent‘s Before I Self Destruct is stretching to reach gold. The G-Unit release came in at #188, while Terror Squad deejay, Khaled carried his E1 release Victory past the 50,000 mark. The release has cracked radio with the Snoop Dogg-assisted southern anthem “All I Do Is Win.”

The 18th album from Too Short, Still Blowin’, did not crack the Top 200.

Rank Artist Album This Week Est. Total
25 Lil Wayne Rebirth
 15,000 505,000
37 Method Man, Ghostface Killah & Raekwon Wu Massacre
 11,000 49,000
100 E-40 Revenue Retrievin’: Night Shift
 5,000 17,000
188 50 Cent Before I Self Destruct 2,500 436,000
194 DJ Khaled Victory
 2,400 52,000

Will Murs & 9th Wonder’s Fornever exploit the charts’ vulnerability with a high debut position? Stay tuned for next week on DX…