In yet another slow week for Hip Hop and R&B, Alicia Keys is again dethroned from the top spot, this time by the debut albums of Jack Johnson and Sheryl Crow who claimed the coveted #1 and #2 positions, respectively. Keys is stil slated to reach triple platinum by next week. Mary J Blige holds strong in the top ten, still slipping down one spot to #7 while the Step Up 2 Soundtrack [which includes Flo Rida‘s commerical smash hit “Low’] debuted at #13 selling 32k.
Keyshia Cole and Chris Brown, though both experiencing a %3 decrease in sales, hold the #11 and #12 spots. J. Holiday‘s Back of my Lac finally hits gold in its 19th week on the charts (505k), while The Dream, who wrote both J. Holiday‘s “Bed” and “Suffocate”, has made it to just past the 200k mark in his 9th week.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Total |
| 3 | Alicia Keys | As I Am | 80,172 | 2,987,631 |
| 7 | Mary J Blige | Growing Pains | 44,592 | 1,177,054 |
| 11 | Keyshia Cole | Just Like You | 35,366 | 1,131,109 |
| 12 | Chris Brown | Exclusive | 32,267 | 1,248,205 |
| 13 | Various | Step Up 2 Soundtrack | 31,445 | 31,521 |
Hip Hop continues its agonizing dry spell with the highest ranking rap artist (Soulja Boy) coming in at #36. Lupe Fiasco [despite winning his first Grammy Award this weekend] still slowly inches towards his golden plaque. Currently, Fiasco has sold 317k. Raheem Devaughn, despite some glowing reviews for album Love Behind The Melody, has still been unable to crack 100k.
Other Notables…
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Total |
| 36 | Soulja Boy | Souljaboytellem.com | 18,603 | 764,571 |
| 54 | Lupe Fiasco | The Cool | 14,767 | 316,819 |
| 57 | Raheem DeVaughn |
Love Behind The Melody |
14,350 | 90,309 |
| 63 | Jay-Z | American Gangster | 12,994 | 978,362 |
| 64 | Kanye West | Graduation | 12,976 | 1,983,188 |
Next month, legend Pete Rock drops his highly anticipated New York’s Finest, along with new albums by Erykah Badu, Rick Ross, Akrobatik, and many more. It’s getting warmer this February, but will the charts reflect it?
