Lil Wayne‘s Rebirth sold an impressive 175,000 debut week units. The Cash Money/Universal Motown project benefited from Wayne being in headlines for both his (now postponed) jail sentence, but also being one of the celebrity faces to the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl victory in Miami. Weezy F.’s Auto-Tune heavy Rock experiment with Cool & Dre could not budge Country/Pop act Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now, who assumed #1 for a second straight week. Numerous radio stations yesterday were doing special Young Money dedications to honor Wayne’s reporting to Riker’s Island. Next week will show if that gave Rebirth any chance of a second run at #1.
With The 2010 Grammy Awards on Sunday, the charts reflected a who’s who of nominees. For starters, Capitol Records’ compilation of nominees, which included The Black Eyed Peas, bounced back to #5. Those same Peas are within a thousand units sold to take The E.N.D. to double-platinum. The release likely crossed that mark Monday or Tuesday, though Interscope Records has yet to confirm.
Michael Jackson’s This Is It fell six spots on the charts. The Epic Records soundtrack companion to the summer film surged 11 spots. Alicia Keys‘ Element Of Freedom and Beyonce’s I Am…Sasha Fierce battled it out on the charts. The two were less than 600 units apart, as a rounded figure shows that Keys will see her latest platinum plaque as of next week’s review. J Records has yet to confirm.
* Please note: figures below approximated to nearest thousandeth.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
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| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 2 | Lil Wayne | Rebirth | 176,000 | 176,000 |
| 5 | Various Artists | 2010 Grammy Nominees | 71,000 | 165,000 |
| 6 | Black Eyed Peas | The E.N.D. | 70,000 | 1,999,000 |
| 11 | Michael Jackson’s | This Is It | 35,000 | 1,439,000 |
| 13 | Alicia Keys | Element of Freedom | 34,000 | 1,000,000 |
Lil Wayne and teammates’ We Are Young Money still are short of 300,000. As predicted, the charts boasted numerous Young Money/Cash Money acts, including Rebirth, We Are Young Money, Jay Sean’s debut, Birdman’s latest, Drake’s EP, and even former Hot Boy Juvenile.
Although numbers were tallied prior to his Super Bowl pre-game performance Jay-Z‘s Blueprint 3 saw an excellent week in sales growth. The Atlantic Records-distributed break from Def Jam climbed 10 spaces. Eminem’s Relapse climbed seven spots, as the release aims to go double platinum by mid-March.
Drake’s So Far Gone EP was just barely out of Top 50. The fall debut release approaches 400,000, and remains Drake’s starting point, with a gold plaque likely in sight. 50 Cent‘s Before I Self Destruct gained 17 spots last week. This could be another album, that with radio support of a new single, could reach gold status by early spring.
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| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 28 | Young Money | We Are Young Money | 21,000 | 291,000 |
| 30 | Jay-Z | Blueprint 3 | 19,000 | 1,597,000 |
| 34 | Eminem | Relapse | 18,000 | 1,824,000 |
| 53 | Drake | So Far Gone | 12,000 | 369,000 |
| 69 | 50 Cent | Before I Self Destruct | 8,500 | 387,000 |
Despite hope from some, neither powerful east coast deejay, Statik Selektah, nor DJ Green Lantern cracked the charts with debut albums last week. Can hiatus-breakers Sade or Gil Scott-Heron shake things up next week? Stay tuned.
