After a one-week showing from ’70s and ’80s Gap Band veteran and Snoop uncle Charlie Wilson, Beyonce re-assumed the top urban spot last week with her I Am…Sasha Fierce [click to read]. Behind such stars as Taylor Swift, The Jonas Brothers, Nickelback and the Oscar-noted Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack, B was actually down a spot from a week before. Jamie Foxx remained on her high-heels though, with his Intuition [click to read].
Kanye West‘s 808’s & Heartbreak [click to read] and T.I.‘s [click to read] Paper Trail [click to read] came in at #10 and #11, holding strong, as both reach for the two million mark. With India.Arie out of the Top Five fold, Keyshia Cole also bounced back after the two rap heavyweights with her A Different Me [click to read].
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 6 | Beyonce | I Am…Sasha Fierce | 35,391 | 1,918,074 |
| 9 | Jamie Foxx | Intuition | 30,796 | 681,447 |
| 10 | Kanye West | 808’s & Heartbreak | 25,535 | 1,385,991 |
| 11 | T.I. | Paper Trail | 25,335 | 1,749,142 |
| 12 | Keyshia Cole | A Different Me | 24,436 | 750,263 |
The week was filled with three new Hip Hop releases. K’naan‘s [click to read] led the way with the A&M Records release Troubador [click to read]. This is A&M‘s first Hip Hop release to chart since The Black Eyed Peas. The release was followed 10 spots later by Joe Budden‘s [click to read] second official retail album, Padded Room [click to read]. A first in five years for Budden, the release was a high placement for the label, Amalgam Digital, and rumored to be one of the final retail releases for the digital-minded imprint.
Next was Project Pat‘s [click to read] first Asylum Records release, Real Recognize Real [click to read]. Despite limited marketing and promotion, the Memphis veteran’s second project in 18 months nearly cracked 10,000 first week sales. Followed by that, Cypress Hill frontman B-Real [click to read] brought out his solo debut after an 18 year career on Duck Down Records, titled Smoke N’ Mirrors [click to read].
Lil Wayne [click to read] sold just under 15,000 copies of Tha Carter III [click to read], placing him at #36 this past week, with just over three million in gross sales.
Lastly, as artists like E-40, Scarface and DJ Drama‘s Lil Wayne mixtape have all bookended the Top 200, Nelly‘s [click to read] Brass Knuckles [click to read] re-appeared for the first time in over a month.
Other Notables
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 32 | K’naan | Troubador | 15,288 | 15,386 |
| 42 | Joe Budden | Padded Room | 13,561 | 13,860 |
| 70 | Project Pat | Real Recognize Real | 8,664 | 8,803 |
| 148 | B-Real | Smoke N’ Mirrors | 3,828 | 3,897 |
| 166 | Nelly | Brass Knuckles | 3,392 | 202,160 |
Where will Joe Budden and the veteran B-Real stand? Stay tuned to HipHopDX for next week….
