John Legend remained the top urban act for the second straight week, as AC/DC, Hinder, Pink and two soundtracks occupied the first five spots. T.I. [click to read] remained close behind, with what remains the second best-selling rap album this year in Paper Trail [click to read].
Over five years removed from a release, Q-Tip [click to read] fell just short of a Top 10 debut week with his critically acclaimed Universal Motown release The Renaissance [click to read]. With limited airplay and unanimously strong reviews, this album will be interesting to watch, as the label succeeded with similar circumstances with Erykah Badu earlier this year.
Ne-Yo‘s Year of the Gentleman [click to read] continues to be a better showing than any rap release for the Def Jam label. Lil Wayne [click to read] stayed in his mid-twenties zone of recent, selling Tha Carter III [click to read], strongly towards three million.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total | |
| 6 | John Legend | Evolver | 72,113 | 205,207 | |
| 7 | T.I. | Paper Trail | 68,782 | 1,116,409 | |
| 11 | Q-Tip | Renaissance | 34,219 | 34,219 | |
| 18 | Ne-Yo | Year of the Gentleman |
|
573,236 | |
| 19 | Lil Wayne | Tha Carter III | 23,960 | 2,648,682 |
Young Jeezy [click to read] remains strong with his Recession [click to read], gaining a few spots from last week . The Game [click to read] and LAX [click to read] remains Top 40.
Atlanta dance sensation DJ Unk debuted just shy of the Top 100 with his Koch Records release 2econd Season [click to read]. The artist and project is getting a strong promotion from 2K Sports as well, which may help build out singles, making the release longer lasting on the charts. Nelly [click to read] and Brass Knuckles [click to read] remain on the charts as well, another product of Universal‘s banner year.
With the exception of DJ Khaled and Raphael Saadiq [click to read], the remaining urban, rap-related release was Plies [click to read], who with a new album due in a month, spends what may be one of his final weeks on the chart with his sophomore effort Definition of Real [click to read].
Other Notables
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 23 | Young Jeezy | Recession | 19,598 | 589,571 |
| 40 | The Game | LAX | 13,102 | 559,076 |
| 104 | DJ Unk | 2econd Season | 5,220 | 5,257 |
| 137 | Nelly | Brass Knuckles | 4,176 | 161,239 |
| 194 | Plies | Definition of Real | 2,991 | 533,099 |
As Jedi Mind Tricks release, will the internationally cult-followed Philadelphia outfit get that chart love that’s been recently enjoyed by Joe Budden and Z-Ro? Will appearances from Dr. Dre and Eminem make Trick Trick the unforeseen star of Koch this year? Stayed tuned to HipHopDX.
