Hip Hop returned to the charts this week, in a major way. In the trifecta of releases from Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross, it was the youngest, and southern representative that took the coveted #1 spot. Just under the two-hundred thousand mark, RossTrilla is the best first week selling rap album of 2008. Not far behind, Snoop Dogg also fared well in an impressive first week – can Ego Trippin’ crack the platinum status in the US that The Blue Carpet Treatment fell just a tad short of?

Of the three, the independent delegate, Fat Joe cracked the Top Ten with a #6 position, selling just under 50,000 units. Will 50 Cent‘s recent prophecy to XXL hold true that Joe Crack will fail to reach 100,000 on Elephant in the Room be true?

Surprisingly, it was Mary J Blige and Alicia Keys who gave up Top Ten seats to Janet Jackson and Erykah Badu. As commercial urban radio isn’t playing Badu‘s single “Honey,” will the adult contemporary market sustain the eclectic R&B veteran?

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

RankArtistAlbumThis WeekTotal
1

Rick Ross

Trilla

198,375

198,956

3

Snoop Dogg

Ego Trippin’

136,575

136,943

6

Fat Joe

The Elephant In The Room

46,125

46,260

8

Janet Jackson

Discipline

37,560

276,410

9

Erykah Badu

New Amerykah: Part One

34,808

200,399

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Further down the charts, the Atlantic/Asylum fold continues to dominate early 2008 with consistent success from Lupe Fiasco, Webbie, Shawty Lo and Flo Rida and Bun B on deck. In a strange showing, Del The Funkee Homosapien returned with his first solo album in eight years, with New York indie mainstay Definitive Jux to put up over 5,000 units of his 11th Hour return record.

Other Notables…

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RankArtist

AlbumThis WeekTotal
29

Webbie

Savage Life 2

18,448

119,907

41

Lupe Fiasco

The Cool

15,230407,718

64

Shawty Lo

Units In The City

10,631

55,573

122

Del The Funkee Homosapien

11th Hour

5,810

5,985

Tech N9ne

Everready

698

136,788

Will the Florida love hold for another strong week from Rick Ross? Or will fellow Poe Boy Entertainment artist Flo Rida challenge the charts with his debut? Can Sheek match the independent intensity that put Fat Joe in the Top 10, or will he follow Styles‘ trend in late-2007? As Lupe goes for gold, Freeway and Ghostface Killah are dangerously close to cracking 100,000 with their Def Jam releases. Stay tuned to HipHopDX to see how March melts down.

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