Last week we saw several independent rappers make their debut on the charts (sort of-- some of them didn't sell enough to actually chart, yet), but this week we return to the big guns, like Drake and DJ Khaled. Khaled is an interesting case, because while he is definitely considered among the 'big guns' aka mainstream stars, he didn't move mainstream numbers. Although Suffering From Success was packed to the brim with top rap artists, and we all know he promoted the shit out of it, it wasn't able to top the first week sales of his last album, Kiss The Ring, nor We The Best Forever. Are people growing tired of Khaled's endless ad-libs and shameless promotion techniques? TLC find themselves back on the Billboard 200 this week after a lengthy hiatus, for their compilation 20. The album dropped on October 15th, but for whatever reason, only seemed to pick up sales this week (it sold only 6,000 units opening week, but moved 20k this week). Check out how others fared on the charts below.
1) Drake—Nothing Was The Same: Drizzy Drake continues his reign on the Billboard 200, up one spot from last week, back at the familiar #3. This past week Nothing Was The Same sold another 44, 112 units, a 24% drop in sales, as Drake shows no sign of slowing down. His total sales are 991,134 units.
2) DJ Khaled— Suffering From Success: DJ Khaled’s album moved slightly more than expected, but the numbers are still far from impressive. It moved basically half the amount that his last album, Kiss The Ring did, with only 27,000 copies sold opening week. He debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 with those numbers.
3) Justin Timberlake— The 20/20 Experience 2: JT climbed up a few spots from last week’s #11, now at #8. The singer moved slightly less than DJ Khaled did this week, with 26,000 units sold. His total sales for 2 of 2 is 481,000.
4) TLC— 20: TLC’s new compilation album which goes along with the original VH1 movie “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story” debuted last week on the Billboard 200 quite low, at #72. But this week the album saw a big rise, up to #20, selling 20,000 units this week making their total sales 26,000.
5) Pusha T— My Name Is My Name: Pusha Ton finds himself at #26, dropping down from #14. The ½ of Clipse only sold 10k this week, bringing his total sales up to 106,000.
6) Robin Thicke— Blurred Lines: As Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” single continues to sell, so does his album of the same name. He dropped a few spots this week to #31, after 13 weeks of charting. He sold another 8k, which is 20% drop in sales.
7) Jay Z— Magna Carta Holy Grail: Hov rose up two spots this week, from #41 to #39. After charting for 16 weeks he still sold 7,000 units which is a drop in sales of 14%. Jay’s total sales are 1,041,000.
8) Kendrick Lamar— good kid, m.A.A.d city: GKMC continues to find new life on the Billboard charts. K. Dot’s critically acclaimed album climbed up from #54 to a spot within the top 50, at #42. Kendrick moved 7,000 copies of his debut album, bringing his grand total up to 1,072,000. He’s been charting for 53 weeks now.
9) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis—The Heist: These guys. This week Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are sitting at #50, also selling 7k. They’ve been charting for 55 weeks and, as we’ve all realized, aren’t going anywhere soon. Their total sales are 1,118,000.
10) Young Dro— High Times: This week the Hustle Gang rapper has almost fallen into obscurity on the Billboard 200, coming in at #134 from his #57 debut last week for his new LP High Times.
There are several hip-hop Billboard charters that aren’t accounted for above. Among them, Justin Timberlakes’ first 20/20 Experience, which remains stagnant at #61 this week, moving 6k over the past week (with massive total sales 2,330,00). As well, we’ve got The Weeknd’s Kiss Land which dropped three spots this week to #67, and 2 Chainz, whose B.O.A.T.S. II is below Abel at #69, having sold 5k. Juicy J, whose Stay Trippy sold another 4k and has dropped to #96. Dom Kennedy made his debut at #23 last week with Get Home Safely, but he has now dropped off, almost completely, like Dro, now at #196.