The most exciting week on the charts revealed itself this morning. As many predicted, Kanye West topped the charts with his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The album that was promoted through the revolutionary “G.O.O.D. Friday” leaks reached nearly gold in its first week, scanning over 497,000 units. Amazon had promoted the album with digital downloads for less than five dollars throughout last week.
West’s fifth album features Raekwon, Pusha T, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj. Recorded largely in Hawaii, the album features several themes that have garnered it critical praise.
Speaking of Nicki Minaj, her solo debut took the #2 spot. Released on Lil Wayne’s Young Money Records, the DXnext alum sold over 375,000 units of Pink Friday. Featuring both Nicki’s brand of singing and rapping, Pink Friday features will.i.am, Drake and Eminem.
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Def Jam’s R&B/Pop tandem of Rihanna and Ne-Yo filled out the Top 10. In its second week, RiRi’s Loud maintained a #6 spot, with features from Drake, Eminem and the aforementioned Nicki Minaj. With Fabolous on his album, Ne-Yo’s Libra Scale achieved a #9 debut. The concept album deals with a comic book hero falling in love. Ne-Yo has video components to complement the musical messages.
Eminem’s Recovery bumped just two spots to #24. The triple-platinum album sold another 48,000 units during the holiday week.
* Please note: figures below approximated to nearest thousandth.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
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| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 1 | Kanye West | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 496,000 | 497,000 |
| 2 | Nicki Minaj | Pink Friday | 375,000 | 376,000 |
| 6 | Rihanna | Loud | 141,000 | 348,000 |
| 9 | Ne-Yo | Libra Scale | 112,000 | 113,000 |
| 24 | Eminem | Recovery | 48,000 | 3,053,000 |
Signifying the return of G-Unit to many, Lloyd Banks‘ third solo album, H.F.M. 2 (The Hunger For More 2) marked the beginning of the label’s EMI Records-distribution era. With a gold single and high-profile appearances from Kanye West, 50 Cent, Raekwon and Eminem (on the iTunes version), Banks’ acclaimed comeback album fell just short of 50,000 units sold. The Queens, New York rapper did manage a Top 25 debut on his first project off of Interscope Records.
Lil Wayne‘s I Am Not A Human Being earned a gold plaque last week. The digital album-turned-CD release was unveiled during Wayne’s incarceration. This is Wayne’s second gold album released this year, after winter’s Rebirth.
Wayne’s former protege, Curren$y released his second album of this year also. Pilot Talk II, released on Damon Dash’s imprint through Def Jam distribution, features Raekwon and Spitta’s former No Limit label-mate Fiend.
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Gasden, Alabama’s Yelawolf cracked the Top 200 with his retail mixtape Trunk Muzik 0-60. Now signed to Interscope Records, the DXnext alum featured Gucci Mane and Raekwon on the mastered version of the free mixtape he released on New Years Day 2010. The result sold over 5,000 units.
Lastly, another gold plaque was snagged by Kid Cudi. The Cleveland, Ohio rapper’s 2009 debut, Man On The Moon: The End of Day crossed the 500,000 mark after over a year on the charts. The acclaimed rookie effort features Kanye West, Common and Chip Tha Ripper.
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 25 | Lloyd Banks | H.M.F.2 (The Hunger For More 2) | 44,000 | 45,000 |
| 29 | Lil Wayne | I Am Not A Human Being | 37,000 | 511,000 |
| 83 | Curren$y | Pilot Talk II | 14,000 | 15,000 |
| 164 | Yelawolf | Trunk Muzik 0-60 | 5,000 | 5,100 |
| 176 | Kid Cudi | Man On The Moon: The End of Day | 4,600 | 502,000 |
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Will Black Eyed Peas, Flo Rida and Soulja Boy shower the top of the charts with Hip Pop next week? Stay tuned to HipHopDX.
