“Please don’t bow in my presence/How am I a legend?/I just got 10 number one albums/Maybe now 11?” (From “Thank You” by Jay-Z). I don’t think anyone is surprised that Jay-Z‘s The Blueprint 3 captured the #1 spot on top of the Billboard charts (Now it’s 11). Seeing that this album leaked nearly two weeks prior to the official release, I think selling 476,100 albums in the first week is a win. But I won’t spend too much time on Hova though; We got another important release this week (And some jackasses might start bitching about me giving Jay-Z any props). Note: Jay-Z also came in at #30 because of Def Jam’s re-release of The Blueprint/The Blueprint2 collection. Clap for him.
The other big release this week is by none other that The Chef himself Raekwon. Even though I do a weekly column called The Numbers Game, I really believe that an album’s quality or success shouldn’t be strictly measured in sales. I think as soon as the general consensus came in that Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… PT II was a great album, it is was successful right then and there. Besides that, it didn’t do too bad on the charts either. Coming in at #4 is a really good look for Rae. But it does make me scratch my head that I heard constant “classic” chants about the album last week but you punks couldn’t push the album sales in the 100,000’s. Still good though.
#1 Jay-Z/The Blueprint 3 (Last Week: NA) – 476,100; Total: NA [Debut]
#3 Whitney Houston/I Look To You (Last Week: #1) – 88,000; Total: 398,900 [2 weeks]
#4 Raekwon/Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… PT II (Last Week: NA) – 67,900; Total: NA [Debut]
#6 Trey Songz/Ready (Last Week: #3) – 45,100; Total: 177,900 [2 Weeks]
#7 Black Eyed Peas/The E.N.D. (Last Week: #11) – 43,500; Total: 1,071,100 (Platinum) [14 Weeks]
#17 Maxwell/BLACKsummers’night (Last Week: #15) – 22,300; Total: 740,600 (Gold) [10 Weeks]
#24 Pitbull/Rebelution (Last Week: #8) – 17,800; Total: 59,100 [2 Weeks]
#30 Jay-Z/The Blueprint Collectors Edition (Last Week: NA) – 14,000; Total: NA [Debut]
#32 Eminem/Relapse (Last Week: #30) – 13,700; Total: 1,424,600 (Platinum) [17 Weeks]
#33 Fabolous/Loso’s Way (Last Week: #32) – 13,600; Total: 220,900 [7 Weeks]