Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 2/17/2013

After getting off to a strong start with his third straight-to-retail album No Love Lost, Joe Budden slips on the charts this week, sliding down considerably but still managing to move product. A month past dropping his studio debut LongLiveA$AP, A$AP Rocky has the highest-charting Hip Hop release of the week, and even though his sales are stronger than last week, he charts lower than before. Even so, this puts him ahead of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis with their independent debut The Heist, which drops further down but maintains sales numbers thanks to the success of their continuously No. 1 record “Thrift Shop.”

While the charts stayed relatively static in terms of Hip Hop releases in the top 200, Gucci Mane becomes the sole rapper to lodge a new record on the chart. This week, his latest mixtape Trap God 2 managed to scan enough copies to find a place at the chart, even if it’s at the bottom.

Check below to see who had the strongest week on the charts.

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A$AP Rocky’s Reign Ain’t Short Like Leprechauns

That A$AP Rocky reign just won’t let up. The rapper had a supreme debut with LongLiveA$APlast month, making a grand entry at the top of the charts. It’s been a steady decline in terms of chart placement since, but sales have maintained on account of his climbing single and growing presence. The feat comes after years of making his name on the mixtape circuit, releasing his breakout project Live.Love.A$AP several years back. Because of his leg work, the first-week sales of LongLiveA$AP were mighty healthy, moving 140,000 copies sold and beating out Kidz Bop 23 by 58,000 units.

In the past few weeks, the LP went from No. 1 to 7, followed by 13 and 24. Now, the album is at a low point on the chart, holding court at No. 26. It’s a relatively good place to be, considering that he actually went up in sales – from 20,000 to 24,000 – bringing his overal cume to 245,000 copies. That puts him ahead of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ The Heist, which maintains steady ground shortly behind him at No. 33. Rocky is still selling namely because of his gold-certified single “Fuckin’ Problems,” which features guest appearances from Drake, Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz, that has continued to soar up the singles chart.

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Gucci Mane Creeps Onto The Chart With Trap God 2

It’s bizarre to think that Gucci Mane could lodge a mixtape on the chart when it was released for free, but the Southern rapper moves in mysterious ways. Last week, Gooch unleashed his new street project Trap God 2, which featured Wiz Khalifa, Young Thug, Waka Flocka Flame, Lil Wayne, Lloyd, Verse Simmonds and more. The mixtape moved 2,900 copies, meaning that it must have been serviced to either physical or digital retail in some format. While he has cause to celebrate, he ended up beefing last week with A$AP Ferg over the “Trap God” title, taking to Twitter to put the rapper on blast by telling him to “get off my dick.”