With the holidays over, Josh Groban lost his longstanding hold on the #1 slot for sales last week. As Noel sank to #3, it gave way for “Queen of Hip Hop/R&B” Mary J Blige to get a second-week #2 with her Growing Pains, selling 204,258 units (835,436 total). Filling out the middle of the top three, Alicia Keys inched closer to three million with 193,211 units sold last week (2,543,224 total) of her acclaimed As I Am.
In Hip Hop, Lupe Fiasco climbed a spot to #14 with his year-end-list heralded The Cool, selling 54,398 copies (198,477 total) after two weeks. Soulja Boy held the #21 spot, selling 48,277 copies (658,480 total).
Bottoming out the Top 200, Styles P bookended the charts, selling 8,917 units of his Super Gangster (56,865 total). The bigger news might be Timbaland finally achieving platinum status from his single-studded summer release. Will this garner an Interscope follow-up in 2008, or simply greater development of The Mosely Music Group through One Republic and Kerri Hilson?
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Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Total |
| 1 | Mary J Blige | Growing Pains | 204,258 | 835,436 |
| 2 | Alicia Keys | As I Am | 193,211 | 2,543,224 |
| 5 | Chris Brown | Exclusive | 86,700 | 1,051,276 |
| 14 | Lupe Fiasco | The Cool | 54,398 | 198,477 |
| 17 | Jaheim | Makings of a Man | 53,995 | 230,328 |
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Other Notables…
| Rank | Artist | Album | This Week | Total |
| 21 | Soulja Boy | Souljaboytellem.com | 49,629 | 658,480 |
| 26 | Jay-Z | American Gangster | 45,276 | 887,335 |
| 30 | Kanye West | Graduation | 43,366 | 1,891,918 |
| 55 | Timbaland | Shock Value | 26,148 | 1,003,040 |
| 77 | Wu-Tang Clan | 8 Diagrams | 19,798 | 120,981 |
As March becomes the next pivotal release month, will Lil Wayne or another rapper deliver a sneak attack to warm the winter? Or will Lupe Fiasco stretch to go gold while Soulja Boy pushes to platinum?
