This week on Charts Don't Lie we have one new entry, and that's Wale with The Gifted. Wale is an interesting rapper to consider, because there's no denying people love to hate on him. We saw this with the resurgence of old tweets from rappers-- one thing they seemed to all have in common was their strong dislike from Mr. Folarin. And it's not even just those tweets from back in the day, even now, Wale receives more than his fair share of hate. Is is his personality? His attitude? His sometimes corny raps? Whatever the case, the rapper has nonetheless found the most success he's had yet with Rick Ross' MMG. And he's been making smart moves too. By dropping his album on June 25th he basically assured he'd get that #1 debut (which he did). So even though everyone may enjoy teasing Wale, he's got a fan-base locked. Moving on from Wale for a minute, and looking back at those June 18th releases, we see something interesting happened in their second week of sales-- J. Cole surpassed Kanye. Perhaps 'Ye wasn't able to live up to the hype, but Cole did? What do you think?
1) Wale—The Gifted: Although people love to hate on Wale, there are definitely some people out there who actually just love him. The rapper pulled off his first #1 album with The Gifted, which dropped on June 25th. So deciding to keep his June 25th date rather than hope on the June 18th train worked out very well for the MMG rapper. Wale moved 158,000 units opening week. That’s 6,000 copies less than his last album, Ambition, which debuted at #2.
2) J. Cole—Born Sinner: In a surprising (or not surprising?) turn of events, J. Cole has leaped ahead of Kanye West in sales this week, with Born Sinner keeping the #2 spot on the Billboard 200 locked. Cole moved another 84,000 units this past week, which is down 72% from last week, but still impressive.
3) Kanye West—Yeezus: Yeezy wasn’t able to hold on to that #1 spot. Although he debuted at #1, we’ll have to see how long he can keep up his sales. He’s already decreased 80% this past week, moving less than J. Cole, with 64,500 units sold. That lands him at #3 on the charts this week.
4) Kelly Rowland—Talk A Good Game: Singer Kelly Rowland’s solo effort, which was released via Motown, dropped this week to #11 on the Billboard 200. She pushed 22,567 units off the shelves this week.
5) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis—The Heist: These guys continue their chart domination with The Heist. This week The Heist climbed up the charts to #12, and saw an increase of 1% in sales. The duo sold another 23, 246 units.
6) Mac Miller—Watching Movies With The Sound Off: In the face of strong mainstream competition, Mac’s sophomore effort has dropped to #14 this week from his #3 debut. The Rostrum Records signee sold 22,653 copies this past week, which is a decrease of 78% in sales.
7) Justin Timberlake—The 20/20 Experience: Justin Timberlake got pushed down the charts a little further this week, given all the recent releases. This week his comeback album dropped to #17, moving around 17k.
8) Kendrick Lamar—good kid, m.A.A.d city: And K. Dot continues his climb back up the Billboard 200. The rapper actually saw an 18% increase in album sales this past week, and he moved another 10,439 units, coming in at #33. Is the general public just latching on to Kendrick now, or what’s the reason for his recent gradual rise on the charts?
Lil Wayne’s album I Am Not A Human Being II surpassed the 500,000 mark in overall sales this past week, achieving gold status, and coming in just above the top 50 of the Billboard 200 at #49 this week. French Montana’s Excuse My French continues to fall though, coming in at #63 this week after six weeks on the charts. In single news, Ace Hood’s “Bugatti” single has gone gold. Ciara’s “Body Party” jumps from #2 to #1 on the Urban songs chart, and J. Cole’s single “Crooked Smile” is the top new entry on Urban, at #27, following up “Power Trip.”