This week, new additions placed in the Top 5 of Billboard’s Top 200 album charts. Those new additions include The Weeknd’s Kiss Land, 2 Chainz’ B.O.A.T.S. II: #MeTime and Janelle Monae’s The Electric Lady.
While new additions came in strong, last week’s debuts fell a few slots. For example, Ariana Grande’s Yours Truly fell from #1 to #9, Tamar Braxton’s Love & War fell from #2 to #8 and John Legend’s Love in the Future fell from #4 to #10.
It was the chart’s mainstays who continued their reign in the Top 30. In its 10th week on the charts, Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail, which has sold just over 974,000 copies to date, remained in the #18 spot it held last week. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, which has sold over 1,069,000 copies to date, dropped from #27 to #30 in its 49th week on the charts.
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The Weeknd Lands At #1 With Kiss Land
The Weeknd’s Kiss Land hit #1 on the charts this week in a close race against Keith Urban, who landed at #2. Recently, The Weeknd spoke about the significance and theme of the album. “Kiss Land symbolizes the tour life, but it’s a world that I created in my head,” The Weeknd said in an interview with Complex. “When I think about Kiss Land, I think about a terrifying place. It’s a place I’ve never been to before that I’m very unfamiliar with…A lot of it is inspired by filmmakers like John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Ridley Scott, because they know how to capture fear. That’s what Kiss Land is to me, an environment that’s just honest fear. I don’t know who I am right now and I’m doing all these outlandish things in these settings that I’m not familiar with. To me, it’s the most terrifying thing ever. So when you hear the screams in the record and you hear all these horror references and you feel scared, listen to the music because I want you to feel what I’m feeling. Kiss Land is like a horror movie.”
2 Chainz Sails To #3 With B.O.A.T.S. II: #MeTime
2 Chainz returns to the charts with B.O.A.T.S. II: #MeTime, an album that landed at #3 this week. The project, which contains the Pharrell-assisted single “Feds Watching,” was released through Def Jam and T.R.U. 2 Chainz also released a cookbook, with tour recipes, which accompanied the deluxe edition of the album. The album snuck into the Top 3 in its debut week, selling approximately 64,000 units. As the title suggests, B.O.A.T.S. II is a sequel to Based on a T.R.U. Story. By comparison, the first installment of this series sold approximately 147,000 units in its first week and it was #1 on the same charts.
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Janelle Monae Electrifies At #5 With The Electric Lady
Janelle Monae’s The Electric Lady, released via Bad Boy/Atlantic, landed at #5 on the charts. The album boasts various guest stars, including Esperanza Spalding, Solange, Miguel, Prince and Erykah Badu. Monae’s success with Electric Lady follows 2010’s THE ARCHANDROID. According to Monae, Electric Lady was inspired by various notable figures in the film industry. “George Lucas [influenced this album],” Monae said in a recent interview with Hitflix. “I performed at his wedding reception…I met him and I got a chance to speak with Steven Spielberg, and these are people whose ideas, you know, if they weren’t able to make their movies, I don’t think that I would have been able to articulate my thoughts [in music]. They kind of showed me how to do that, I just wanted to do it with music.”
Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 9/15/2013
#1. The Weeknd – Kiss Land – 99,000 (99,000)
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#3. 2 Chainz – B.O.A.T.S. II #MeTime – 64,000 (64,000)
#5. Janelle Monae – The Electric Lady – 47,000 (47,000)
#8. Tamar Braxton – Love & War – 35,000 (149,000)
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#9. Ariana Grande – Yours Truly – 31,000 (169,000)
#10. John Legend – Love in the Future – 30,000 (98,000)
#18. Jay Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail – 17,000 (974,000)
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#28. Juicy J – Stay Trippy – 13,000 (99,000)
#30. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist– 12,000 (1,069,000)
#36. Big Sean – Hall of Fame – 9,000 (99,000)
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#47. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city – 6,000 (1,033,000)
* data comes from Nielsen Soundscan, rounded to nearest thousand for units above 10,000, nearest hundredth for units below 10,000. Each week, HipHopDX presents top albums in Hip Hop/related, and five notables.
Will The Roots & Elvis Costello reach a Top 10 placement next week? Stay tuned to HipHopDX.
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