Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 11/17/08

As predicted by many, T-Pain [click to read] took the top urban spot with his debut week of Th33 Ringz [click to read]. The Florida singer did not start at the top overall though. Entering at #4, the star followed debuts from stars in other genres: Taylor Swift, David Archuletta and the 29th volume of Now That’s What I Call Music respectively. T.I. [click to read] stayed Top 10, with what remains the second best-selling rap album this year in Paper Trail [click to read].

Shortly behind T.I., G.O.O.D. Music sensation John Legend has spent all three weeks of Evolver in the Top 15 of the chart.

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, perhaps until Kanye West and Ludacris next week. Lil Wayne [click to read] fell just short of Top 25, selling Tha Carter III [click to read], strongly towards three million.

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

Young Jeezy [click to read] remains strong with his Recession [click to read], remaining in The Top 50. Q-Tip [click to read] fell considerably from week one to week two with his warmly-received The Renaissance [click to read]. With a strong relationship with 2K Sports and a tour with The Cool Kids starting up, perhaps Tip can gain the momentum to crack the six-figure mark by early December.

The Game [click to read] and LAX [click to read] which were long just paces behind Jeezy, were now split by The Abstract, as his third official album comes in at #58

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.

Strangely, DJ Khaled, DJ Unk and Nelly [click to read] all fell from the Top 200. This came despite Unk offering his sophomore album for $3 one day last week digitally. Perhaps Ace Hood, Khaled‘s artist releasing this week, will hoist the Miami deejay back to the charts. Plies also bid farewell to the charts, temporarily, as he works on Da REAList for early next month, which may pull catalogue back onto the charts, just as witnessed by T.I. this fall.

Raphael Saadiq [click to read] continues to sell steadily with his acclaimed The Way I See It [click read] captivating audiences. A surprise to some, Philadelphia cult-followed underground rappers Jedi Mind Tricks came in just one slot after Saadiq, with their History of Violence [click to read]. The album features the return of early group member Jus Allah, and some highly-touted production.

Other Notables

We posed a JMT appearance last week. Will Ace Hood do Top 10 numbers? Are the charts putty in Beyonce‘s hand? Can The Alchemist make a stand? Stayed tuned to HipHopDX.