This week was obviously a memorable one for hip-hop, with Big Sean's "Control" dropping and a Kendrick Lamar frenzy ensuing. While the verse has received way more attention than we could have imagined, plenty of rappers are retaliating and introducing new excitement into the rap game which isn't a bad thing. We will have to wait and see how long this lasts, but in the meantime it's just making Kendrick Lamar more famous-- his name is popping up all around the web, not just in the rap-sphere, thus giving him more exposure. This will undoubtedly lead to more album sales, and the Compton native isn't even doing too shabby on the charts already-- this week the rapper is sitting at #52. We'll have to wait and see if it's enough to make good kid, m.A.A.d city climb back up the charts, similar to The Heist. Meanwhile, we have a few new albums coming up soon, like Earl Sweatshirt's Doris and A$AP Ferg's Trap Lord in two days. and soon after that Juicy J's Stay Trippy. We have a feeling the Three 6 Mafia rapper will do some damage on the charts, but we'll have a better idea once his sales projections are known. Until those rappers start to shake things up, see what happened this past week below.
1) Robin Thicke— Blurred Lines: Robin Thicke’s #1 debut has dropped this week, slipping two spots to #3 on the Billboard 200. The singer still moved 65,000 units of his album, although he dropped in sales by 63%.
2) Jay Z— Magna Carta Holy Grail: Hov’s Magna Carta Holy Grail maintains a spot in the top 5 of the Billboard 200, this week dropping only one rank down to #4. The rapper is still doing some good numbers with his album, having sold 48,000 over the past week, down in sales only 22%.
3) Tech N9ne— Something Else: This is Tech’s second week on the charts with his new album Something Else, and as an independent rapper he’s definitely not doing too bad, however he did see quite a drop from his #4 debut. Now he’s sitting at #14, with 16,100 units sold this week and a decrease of 71% in sales.
4) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis— The Heist: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ reign on the Billboard 200 continues week after week. This week they dropped only one spot, coming in at #17 after 44 weeks of charting. The duo sold around 15k albums, seeing a 10% decrease since last week’s sales.
5) Justin Timberlake— The 20/20 Experience: JT revealed the tracklist for his second installment on The 20/20 Experience this past week, but fans still haven’t had enough of the first effort. The album is sitting at #20 this week, dropping three spots from last week. Justin moved 13,788 units off shelves.
6) J. Cole— Born Sinner: J. Cole’s sophomore album surpassed Yeezus in going gold, and remains a strong contender on the charts. This week Born Sinner drops to #22, still moving around 13,785 copies.
7) Wale—The Gifted: Wale’s MMG release The Gifted dropped two spots this week, and is below J. Cole at #34. Wale’s only been charting for seven weeks, do you think he’ll fall off quickly or hold on? He moved around 8,000 units over the past week dropping 24% in sales.
8) Kanye West— Yeezus: Kanye West’s most (?) experimental effort yet finally went gold this past week, following in Cole’s footsteps. The rapper is still within the top 50 of the Billboard charts, this week landing at #41. After eight weeks on the charts, Yeezy sold around 7k this week.
9) Rich Gang— Rich Gang: The YMCMB compilation project, better known as Rich Gang, seems to be fading away almost as quickly as it arrived. After just three weeks on the charts, Rich Gang has dropped to #53, from last week’s 36.
Although Kendrick Lamar isn’t up there this week, he’s not to be forgotten, as good kid, m.A.A.d city continues to chart. And we may see him climb back up the charts, with his name receiving a ton more buzz since the release of “Control”—we wouldn’t be surprised. Nonetheless, this week K. Dot comes in at #52, having sold around 7k. As for singles, on the Digital Songs chart Drizzy’s “Hold On We’re Going Home” is doing well, debuting at #8 with 109,000 downloads.