This week's chart contenders prove to be rather boring, because not much has happened in the past week when it comes to rap, hip-hop and r'n'b charters. We've got Nicki Minaj doing what she does at her #2 spot, which she refuses to leave, we've got J. Cole continuing to hold on to a spot in the top 10, impressively, after charting for four weeks. We've got Iggy Azalea randomly climbing up the charts (thanks to Billboard for counting album and single streams into their chart data), and we've got Loso making a smaller splash in his second week out. While these artists try to stay afloat on the charts, we're awaiting the arrival of future pop-rap kings, Rae Sremmurd. The duo dropped off their debut album SremmLife last Monday, and are expected to move between 45k-50k opening week, which should equal a top 10 debut. They definitely have finessed a strong start to their relatively new career, so we'll have to wait and see how things shape up in five years from now-- that will be interesting.
1) Nicki Minaj—The Pinkprint: Nicki Minaj’s third week out, and she’s not going anywhere. The rapper remains at the #2 spot (while Taylor Swift remains at #1, geez). This week The Pinkprint did 84,000 sales and streams (sales: 51,000), with her total sales rising to 355,000.
2) J. Cole—2014 Forest Hills Drive: This week J. Cole slips down one spot to #7 after charting for four weeks. The Fayetteville native’s album has already gone gold, and moved another 59,000 copies this week (sales: 47,000). His grand tally: 624,000.
3) Iggy Azalea— Reclassified: Although Iggy may not be getting very much love from the rapsphere, someone’s buying her album. The New Classic re-issue, Reclassified, soars up the Billboard 200 this week arriving at #16—from #67 last week. In her sixth week charting, Iggy managed to move 29,461—but that large number is due mainly to album streams and single sales; her album sales were just over 5k (sales: 5,242). Iggy gets to take full advantage of Billboard’s new charting calculations.
4) Fabolous—The Young OG Project: After making a healthy #12 debut with The Young OG Project last week, Fabolous drops down to #20 this week. In his second week out, he does 25,044 (sales: 21,399). Thus he brings his total number up to 96,044, just under 100k.
5) Beyonce— Beyonce: Beyonce’s album rises up five more spots this week only to land at #30. She’s been charting strong for 56 weeks now. This week, the album did 18,680 when it comes to sales and streams (sales: 7,754). Her total sales are 2,187,200.
6) D’Angelo—Black Messiah: The return of D’Angelo on the Billboard 200 has been pretty strong thus far. This week the singer makes the fall from #25 to #32 in his third week out. The new album did 17,763 units in streams and sales (sales: 16,179), bringing his total number to 165,233.
7) Eminem— Shady XV: The Shady Records compilation see a spurt up the charts this week, rising to #39. The album may not have received the best reviews, but fans continue to support, scooping up 14,133 copies (sales: 10,922). The total sales for Shady XV stand at 235,665.
8) Chris Brown—X: Breezy rises up several spots as well, climbing from #54 to #46. This rise up the charts translates to numbers of 13,524 in sales and streams (sales: 5,492). The total sales for X are 335,000.
On the Hot 100 chart, this week we see Rae Sremmurd enter the charts with "Throw Sum Mo" at #92. Nicki Minaj's "Bed Of Lies" drop down to #91, while J. Cole's "Apparently" rises up several spots to #86. Nicki's charting multiple times, with "Feeling Myself" coming in at #59. Further down, Kanye West's new single "Only" enters at #35-- not bad for a debut. Usher's "I Don't Mind" is at #28, and Beyonce's "7/11" up 1 at #24. Nicki's third charting single, "Only," is sitting at #16 this week. As we near the top 10, we find Big Sean's "IDFWU" remain stagnant at #12.