Last week I didn’t do an edition of The Numbers Game. Why? Well, Billboard changed some rules and added streams to the album charts (I think 1,500 streams now equals 1 album sales or something). I’m back today but I’m not sure how long I’ll continue writing about album sales; they don’t seem to mean as much as they use to. Plus, I most of the time do this column while I’m at work so there’s that. Priorities. But we’ll see.
The Queen of R&B Soul returns to the charts this week with The London Sessions. After listening to a few songs, it looks like Mary J. Blige had to go to London to get her sound back. Sales wise, it’s better too. The London Sessions grabbed the #9 spot and sold 57,000 in units while Mary’s last album, where she did the entire soundtrack Think Like A Man Too, debuted at #30 and only sold around 8,000 in it’s first week. Hail to the queen.
Some people has asked us about reviewing the new Wu-Tang Clan album A Better Tomorrow but I’m not sure. I use to fuck with Wu-Tang and I still respect the Killer Bees, but I heard a few songs and was like, nope. So why would we review it if it’s a good chance of it getting a 3 or lower? It’s still good to see older rappers making music. R.I.P. ODB. Wu-Tang Clan’s A Better Tomorrow lands at #29 and sells around 25,000.
Because I’m an idiot and watch (and sometimes even writes about) Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood regularly, I knew Omarion had an album dropping last week. Sex Playlist is that album. I don’t know too much else about the album other than there’s already drama behind it. Maybach O’s Sex Playlist gets the #49 spot and sells 16,000 copies.
Check back next week to see how well J. Cole‘s new album 2014 Forest Hills Drive does. Projections have doing 320,000 to350,000 in it’s first week. While you wait on that, check out our review on 2014 Forest Hills Drive. It’s pretty good.
#9 Mary J. Blige – The London Sessions (Last Week: N/A) – 57,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#21 Shady XV (Last Week: #3) – 33,200; Total: 170,700 [2 Weeks]
#29 Wu-Tang Clan – A Better Tomorrow (Last Week: N/A) – 25,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#39 Beyonce – Beyonce (Last Week: #39) – 19,900; Total: 2,136,000 (2x Platinum) [52 Weeks]
#40 Pitbull – Globalization (Last Week: #18) – 19,800; Total: 52,000 [2 Weeks]
#42 Rick Ross – Hood Billionaire (Last Week: #6) – 18,700; Total: 90,000 [2 Weeks]
#49 Omarion – Sex Playlist (Last Week: N/A) – 16,100; Total: N/A [Debut]
Hip-Hop + R&B album sales for the week of December 2nd (Top 50 & New Releases)