Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 05/04/2014

Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic, Pharrell’s G I R L and Future’s Honest remain at the top of the Rap & R&B portion of the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. Meanwhile, Styles P and Bas enter the charts with their individual efforts. Styles breaks into the chart at #74 with The Phantom and The Ghostselling 4,331 copies and Bas enters the chart at #103 with 3,601 albums sold in its first week with his Last Winter effort.

Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic Arrives At #5

Iggy Azalea’sThe New Classicis this week’s top Rap album on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart.The collection lands in the #5 spot overall this week, a drop from last week’s #3 placing. It experienced a 57 percent decrease in sales. The New Classic sold 22,525 copies in its second week, bringing its total sales number up to 74,917 units sold. The effort earned a 2.5 out of 5 in its HipHopDX review. “In a now altogether too common meeting of marketing prowess and the expectations of a society in the throes of progression, Australian-born emcee Iggy Azalea’s debut album The New Classicis just that; a modern twist on mainstream marketing’s ideal of beauty and expectations from popular music,” HipHopDX said of the set. “Depending on perspective, Azalea unfortunately (or fortunately) follows in a long line of physically attractive blondes pushed to the stars by the music industry. In that being said instead of Azalea’s unique gifts as a lyricist being showcased, the album feels flat and uninspiring. This isn’t as much an enjoyable album as it is a brand marketing impact report highlighting percentages of target demographics reached.”

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Recently, the rapper said she’s already looking into her next effort.

I’m already thinking about my next album. Can’t wait for summer to wind down so I can start recording again. *evil grin*
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) May 5, 2014

Pharrell’s G I R L Remains In Top 6

Pharrell’s G I R L is the #6 album on the chart this week. In its ninth week of availability, the project sold 21,645 units, a 3 percent increase from last week’s sales total. The effort has sold 347,128 copies overall. Recently, Pharrell revealed news regarding “Happy,” this album’s most successful cut. In a recent interview, Pharrell acknowledged that he was not the first act set to perform the selection. “[Cee Lo] did it,” the Virginia producer-rapper said. “But…How do I say this diplomatically? The powers that be at the time did not see it fit for him. And there was a much bigger agenda for him. He had bigger fish to fry. He had an album to put out…He wanted to do it, but I think some folks on his team just felt that the priority should have been on his album at the time. And so they elected not to do that song, but with another one instead…He was one of the most gracious people about it. When it came out he congratulated me. When we got nominated he congratulated me. He’s a super standup guy…He sounded amazing on it. I mean, he burns my version.”

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Future’s Honest Drops To #7

Future’s Honestexperienced a significant decrease in sales this week. In its second week, the effort dropped 63 percent in sales, knocking the project down from #2 to #7. This week, the effort sold 19,731 copies, which brings the Honest sales total to 73,083 units sold overall. In August 2013, Future spoke about the album after switching its title from Future Hendrix to Honest. “Honest is the new me,” Future said at the time. “It represents the truth I try to bring to my music…I plan to break the mold with this album so that it will be nothing like you’ve heard from me or any other artist out. You can either tell the truth or face the Future.”