Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 3/10/08

The calm before the storm of Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg and Rick Ross affected the charts little this week. As Country star Alan Jackson, and former accomplice of Rock-rappin’ outfit G. Love & Special Sauce, Jack Johnson held down the #1 and #2 spots, R&B occupied much of the Top 10, with queens throughout the ’80s, ’90s and present-day holding the slots with four very distinctly-created albums.

For the second week in a row, Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s Webbie proved to be Asylum/Atlantic Records‘ latest success story, with Savage Life Volume 2 holding the #11 position, based off the the strong single “Independent.”

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

Further down the charts, the usual suspects of Soulja Boy, Kanye West and Jay-Z all remained active on the charts, as Lupe Fiasco continues to prove his consistent success, with The Cool coming in at #35, but Food & Liquor also scanning over a 1,000 units this week on the Rap/Hip Hop Top 100. His partial label-mate Shawty Lo did not fare as well, dropping significantly from a strong start last week. Cult favorite Joe Budden is also making a convincing argument that albums made off of mixtapes are suffering in the marketplace, despite rave reviews. His Amalgam Digital retail release has yet to find position in the Top 200.

Other Notables…

Chart holders ought not get too comfortable though, as March’s premier releases from Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross and Fat Joe are likely to challenge many of these spots next week.