This week we saw Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience break another record, after first topping Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV in first week sales, it became the first record in 2013 to crack one million sales, going platinum just two weeks after it dropped. On the other end of the spectrum, we saw Weezy F's album, I Am Not A Human Being II, sell a strong 217k, but it did not really live up to his past LP sales. Was JT's comeback all the excitement and hype needed to sell his 1 million copies, or did he have an added ingredient that the mainstream latched onto, which Lil Wayne was missing out on this round? Let us know what you think the cause is for the disparaging difference between either superstar's album sales in the comments.
1) Justin Timberlake— The 20/20 Experience: Justin Timberlake looks like he’ll be occupying the #1 spot on the charts for a while. The 20/20 Experience already went platinum this past week, by selling another 317,037 copies. That’s on top of the 980k from opening week. Although the numbers are down 68% from the previous week, it’s still more than most rappers sell their first week.
2) Lil Wayne—I Am Not A Human Being II: Case in point, Lil Wayne. Weezy, who is usually able to move albums by the millions, or at least the 900,000s, didn’t sell enough in opening week to bump out JT from #1 on the Billboard 200. The YMCMB rapper debuted at #2 on the charts this week, moving what can be considered a solid 217k, but in comparison to past albums from the metaphor king, it seems like a flop. What do you think?
3) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis—The Heist: This pair just keeps getting bigger and bigger by the week. As we document on Charts Don’t Lie, they’ve been consistently selling records, and it’s paid off, because now The Heist has gone gold—surpassing the 500,000 mark in sales. That’s not bad for an independent fish in mainstream waters. Not only that, but with “Thrift Shop” 5x platinum, these dudes are bound to continue selling. This week they come in at #16, which is down from last week. They sold another 28,669 copies of The Heist.
4) Rihanna—Unapologetic: Rih Rih drops quite a few spots on the charts this week, landing at #18. Her first-ever #1 album is sold 28,256 units over the past week.
5) Kendrick Lamar— good kid, m.A.A.d city: Kendrick Lamar’s debut album remains within the top 50 on the charts, but barely. The rapper dropped almost twenty spots from last week, and comes in at #4 this week. Nonetheless, he sold similar amounts to last week, with around 14k copies moved.
A$AP Rocky and Alicia Keys, whom we’ve seen on Charts Don’t Lie frequently in the past, didn’t quite make it this week. Mrs. AK is sitting right atop of Rocky on the Billboard 200 though, with the #62 spot and Rocky nabbing #63. They both dropped quite a bit from the previous week, so we’ll have to wait and see if it’s a long descent on the charts for them from now on.