This week nothing major dropped in terms of hip-hop. Nonetheless, overall album sales went up by 42%. To what can we blame this spike in sales? It would be safe to say Black Friday, which is basically the commencement of the holiday season/shopping frenzy. It's interesting to see the effects on the charts, as many of the rap albums we're looking at today were affected positively from this season of giving, and thus we're seeing a lot of sales increase by large percentages-- Drake's Nothing Was The Same, for example, spiked by 349% in sales. That's not an every day occurrence, but it does happen annually around Christmas. We'll have to wait and see how this plays out over the course of December, to find out who will really benefit from this season of shopping. Interestingly enough, Kanye West's Yeezus seems to have (or is it all his recent interviews giving him more promo?), as his album climbed up almost 100 spots on the Billboard 200-- while Jay Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail did the complete opposite. Check out how our other hip-hop and r'n'b artists fared below.
1) Eminem— Marshall Mathers LP 2: Eminem has once more descended to spot #2 on the Billboard 200, as pop stars One Direction take the #1 spot. After four weeks of charting, it’s looking like Em won’t be going anywhere. This week the rapper actually increased in sales by 59% and sold another 199,183 copies off the shelves. His total sales have reached 1,322,905 as he’s on his way to double platinum.
2) Justin Timberlake— The 20/20 Experience 2: Chart mainstay Justin Timberlake continues to thrive with his second effort, which happened to rise back up the Billboard 200 over this past week, from #22 to #11. The singer pushed out 77,000 units with an astounding increase in sales of 349% and brought his grand tally to 633,000.
3) Drake— Nothing Was The Same: Drizzy Drake also benefited in sales this past week, with NWTS rising from #14 to #12 on the charts, and increasing in sales by 132%. The YMCMB rapper moved 74,000 copies and increased his total sales to 1,203,000.
4) Robin Thicke— Blurred Lines: Robin Thicke sky-rocketed from #74 to #24 this week, with 29,296 albums sold over this past week, Thicke definitely benefited from this holiday season.
5) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis—The Heist: Our other chart mainstays, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, rose up this past week from #30 to #52. After 60 weeks of charting, the duo sold another 26,000 copies of their debut effort. Their total sales are 1,172,000.
6) Justin Timberlake— The 20/20 Experience: Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience is still moving units, albeit not as many as the second one, he’s still found himself at #36 this week from #88 last week. This album sold 23,000 copies this week. The total sales are 2,373,000.
7) Kanye West— Yeezus: Everyone’s been benefiting from the holiday season this week. Yeezus ran back up the Billboard 200, from #130 last week to #43 this week.
8) Yo Gotti— I Am: Yo Gotti had quite a drop over the past week, after his debut at #7 he’s dropped to #45. The rapper sold around 20,000 copies of I Am, a decrease in sales of 54%.
9) 2 Chainz— B.O.A.T.S. II: #METime: Tity Boi’s sophomore effort was another album that didn’t have an increase in sales this week. Although recently he did climb back up the charts, he once again descended this week, from #49 to #66. The rapper pushed 14k, with total sales of 186,000.
10) Hopsin— Knock Madness: Hopsin’s Knock Madness debuted last week on the Billboard 200, quite low at #132 only pushing out 4k. However, things are looking up sales-wise, as the rapper rose up to #76 this week, selling around 12,260 units this week, bringing his total up to 16,000. Hopefully he continues to climb up.
11) Kendrick Lamar—good kid, m.A.A.d city: Kendrick Lamar dropped a few spots this week, still sitting in the 100s of the Billboard 200. From #117 K. Dot fell to #124, and moved 7,800 units. His total sales for GKMC are 1,099,000, and it’s very possible we’ll see him climb back up as we near Christmas.
Other notable entrys include John Legend's Love In The Future, which dropped this week, from #44 to #94. Jhene Aiko's Sail Out EP has only been charting for three weeks, but the singer experienced a big drop from #30 to #128. J. Cole's Born Sinner actually re-entered the Billboard 200 this week, at #139. Pusha T's MNIMN climbed up from #173 to $144 this week, Jay Z climbed down, and finds himself below Yeezus for the first time in a minute, with Magna Carta Holy Grail at #158 (#89 last week). The rapper still sold 6,400 units, with total sales of 1,071,000. Another re-entry onto the Billboard 200 worth mentioning is The Weeknd's Kiss Land at #159.