Estimates were high for Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter IV. The Cash Money Records veteran did not sell a million records in one week, as experts projected. However, the former Hot Boy-turned-Young Money CEO did out-sell Jay-Z & Kanye West, Game and Eminem & Royce Da 5’9″ in just one week.
Tha Carter IV, which features the likes of Tech N9ne, Andre 3000 and Nas, sold approximately 965,000 first-week units. While it just missed the million-mark achieved in 2008 with Tha Carter III, the Universal Motown/Cash Money release, which had an extra day of sales after the MTV Video Music Awards performance a week-and-a-half ago, is the best first-week performance this year.
Interestingly enough, Jay-Z – an on-again, off-again collaborator and rival for Lil Wayne, was the next best urban release. Jay and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne fell two spots to #4. The pair made a surprise performance of “Otis”
at those same VMA awards, as they march towards platinum.
French deejay/produce David Guetta‘s fifth album Nothing But The Beat scored a Top 5 debut. The EMI Records star, who made a United States splash by producing with will.i.am on The Black Eyed Peas’ 2009 The E.N.D. multi-platinum album, released his Hip-Hop-inspired Dance album. Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida and Timbaland are among the guests.
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Beyonce’s4 returned to the Top 10 – up five spots, after her baby-bump-revealing VMA performance. The Destiny’s Child alum’s fourth solo offering features an appearance by Outkast’s Andre 3000, along with production from Kanye West and his production team – including Jeff Bhasker, as well as a writing credit to former G.O.O.D. Music artist Consequence.
Compton, California emcee Game held a Top 10 spot in his second week of R.E.D. Album – after a #1 performance. The Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records star passed the 135,000 mark. R.E.D. features 2011 sensations Tyler, The Creator, Kendrick Lamar and Lex Luger, along with album narration by Game’s mentor, Dr. Dre.
* 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 | Lil Wayne | Tha Carter IV | 964,000 | 965,000 |
| 4 | Jay-Z & Kanye West | Watch The Throne | 80,000 | 787,000 |
| 5 | David Guetta | Nothing But The Beat | 56,000 | 56,000 |
| 7 | Beyonce | 4 | 39,000 | 739,000 |
| 8 | Game | The R.E.D. Album | 39,000 | 137,000 |
Royce Da 5’9 and Eminem (as Bad Meets Evil) and their album, Hell: The Sequel fell four spots. As of now, the Motor City natives are at 499,000, on the cusp of earning Royce his first plaque from the RIAA.
OFWGKTA‘s Tyler, The Creator climbed an incredible 50 spots with Goblin. This achieves over 140 places climbed in just two weeks. The XL Recordings release nearly left the charts last month, before winning an MTV “New Artist” Award last week – beating out Wiz Khalifa. Goblin is now at #46, approaching 120,000 units sold.
With a high-profile appearance on Tha Carter IV, Tech N9ne‘s All 6’s & 7’s got a 14-spot bump from being in stores. The album, which features B.o.B, Kendrick Lamar and Yelawolf – as well as Wayne, is approaching 150,000 units sold.
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A Cash Money Records joint-release with Suburban Noize and Sony Red, Glasses Malone‘s solo debut Beach Cruiser made an appearance on the charts at #165. The South Central, Los Angeles native’s long-delayed LP features Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross and early mentor Mack 10. Earlier this year, Glasses and Mack released Money Music.
Houston, Texas star Slim Thug‘s collective, the Boss Hogg Outlawz, released their third studio album, Serve & Collect Part 3 (Immahogg). The E1 Entertainment release of the group including veteran J-Dawg, as well as Le$, Mug and Dre Day appeared at #191. The group formerly included Killa Kyleon.
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Est. Total |
| 19 | Eminem & Royce Da 5’9 (Bad Meets Evil) | Hell: The Sequel | 18,000 | 499,000 |
| 46 | Tyler, The Creator | Goblin | 9,700 | 118,000 |
| 124 | Tech N9ne | All 6’s & 7’s | 3,700 | 137,000 |
| 165 | Glasses Malone | Beach Cruiser | 2,700 | 2,700 |
| 191 | Slim Thug Presents Boss Hogg Outlawz | Serve & Collect Part 3 (Immahogg) | 2,400 | 2,400 |
Will Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV budge? Can Cash Money Records releases from DJ Khaled, Nicki Minaj, Drake and Glasses Malone benefit? Stay tuned to HipHopDX next week to find out.
