Statistics have been an essential part of the rap game for years. "Who is number one?", "How well will an album debut?", and "Will it reach gold?", are just a few of the recorded facts that can be found here. It has been said that numbers never lie, so without further ado let us see what truths they tell.
1) Rick Ross - God Forgives, I Don’t: Having sold 218,000 units in its first week Rozay not only snatched the top spot on Billboard’s “R&B/Hip Hop” chart, it also debuted at #1 on Billboard’s “Top 200.” Moreover the Boss surpassed his personal best sales week set by Trilla in ‘08. With three top streaming singles to boot it’s easy to see that this eagerly anticipated album is living up to its hype.
2) Nas - Life is Good: The Don relinquished his crown this week, but continues to sell well. Having added 35k plus he’s now moved 226,000 total to date. Though this record was inspired by his failed marriage, as the title suggests, success is certain and life is good.
3) Frank Ocean - Channel Orange: After four weeks Odd Future’s crooner has sold 238,000 copies of Channel Orange. 20,104 set sail this week. Much like the two titles above, this Def Jam release reveals the record labels choke-hold on the charts right now.
4) Chris Brown - Fortune: With 16,880 additional albums sold Breezy remains in the Top 5 for the fifth week in a row. Unfortunately for him he still hasn’t even passed the first week’s sales numbers of last years, F.A.M.E.
5) Usher - Looking 4 Myself: 16,809 more records for Raymond, and having been out for almost two months now it’s still inching its way toward gold. Suffering from the same sales slump as Brown, Usher isn’t pushing units like he once did.
In addition, it is important to note other hip hop efforts still making waves. MMG’s Self Made Vol. 2 unloaded another 13,819 units, and Nicki Minaj pushed 11,396 of Pink Friday… Roman Roladed. The latter was certified platinum a few months back making it YMCMB’s third album to do so in the past year alone.
On Billboard’s “R&B/Hip Hop Songs” chart 2 Chainz “No Lie” took the top slot. Having bumped off Kanye’s “Mercy", 2 Chainz trumped himself in a sense. The last person to accomplish a similar feat was Drake. In February October’s Very Own swapped “Make Me Proud” with “The Motto” to stay seated on the throne. In addition, as a feature on “No Lie,” Drake is now a new record holder. At 25 years old he already has the most number one singles on the R&B/Hip Hop chart in Billboard history, (10 total; 3 as a lead artist; 7 as a guest artist).
Lastly, in streaming news, while Rick Ross has the most increased streams, Flo Rida remains the most streamed rapper - unless you count Wiz Khalifa’s appearance on Maroon 5’s “Payphone.” Overall sales were up this week, but remain underwhelming year to date. It will be interesting to watch how this effects artists' marketing and release strategies.