This week both Joey Bada$$ and Lupe Fiasco finally make their splash on the Billboard 200. One splash was bigger than another, though. The sales projections for both artists were pretty accurate, with Joey doing 57,694 units when you take into account the single and album streams, and Lupe doing 42,458. Joey's numbers not only outdid his veteran competitor Lupe Fiasco, but he also outdid fellow newcomers Rae Sremmurd, who are currently charting in their third week. Although Joey Bada$$ chased that old school '90s sound on his album, it obviously resonated enough with the youth enough to make a #5 debut on the Billboard 200-- pretty impressive. Tetsuo & Youth, however, enters at #14. Lupe's numbers don't quite stack up if compared to his 2012 LP Food & Liquor II, which moved slightly over 89k and debuted at #5. Have the Lupe fans dwindled away? The new album seems to be garnering heavy praise from Lupe's followers, despite the sales being half of what Lupe did two years ago. Lupe definitely did a reasonable amount of press and promoting leading up to Tetsuo & Youth, but for whatever reason, it didn't turn into sales. Check out how everyone else fared on the charts this week below.
1) Joey Bada$$-- B4.DA.$$: Joey Bada$$ finally released his debut album, to much praise and to a healthy amount of sales too. B4.DA.$$ made a #5 debut on the Billboard 200, even outselling its competitor Tetsuo & Youth. The album sold 57,694 copies opening week (sales: 53,990).
2) Nicki Minaj—The Pinkprint: Nicki Minaj is holding down the Billboard 200 at #6 once again this week. The Pinkprint has been charting for six weeks now, and after peaking at #2, Nicki hasn’t moved past #6. The rapper had a combined streams and sales of 53,580 units this week (sales: 27,623), while her total number is at 446,029.
3) Mark Ronson— Uptown Special: Mark Ronson made a Billboard 200 debut last week sitting comfy at #5. This week he drops five spots to land at #10 after selling 48,582 units. That number predominantly consists of streams though, as his sales were under 10k (sales: 9,640). His total sales are currently 39,687.
4) Lupe Fiasco—Tetsuo & Youth: Lupe Fiasco’s album has received plenty of critical praise upon its release, however the sales weren’t astounding. Nonetheless the Chicago native managed to do 42,458 units opening week (sales: 39,281), debuting at #14. We’ll have to see how it holds up in the long run.
5) J. Cole— 2014 Forest Hills Drive: It’s still a Cole World out here. The North Carolina rapper drops down to #16 this week, from last week’s #10. He’s been charting for seven weeks, and continued to move units with 31,997 sales and streams this past week (sales: 22,501). Cole’s total album sales are quickly nearing platinum status, currently at 708,494.
6) Rae Sremmurd— SremmLife: SremmLife drops down to #24 in its third week out. Rae Sremmurd moved 19,056 copies, combined with streams (sales: 7,842), while their total sales are at 53,155.
7) Pitbull— Globalization: Even if you don’t listen to him, Pitbull’s still here. Obviously someone does. The pop-rapper’s new album Globalization falls two spots this week to #32. He’s been charting for nine weeks, and similar to Mark Ronson, he benefits a lot from having single and album streams count towards his Billboard placement. He did 14,590 units this week, but actual album sales were under 4k (sales: 3,432). Nonetheless his total number is 101,353.
8) Jasmine Sullivan—Reality Show: We saw singer Jasmine Sullivan make her debut the other week at #12, but this week she’s fallen off to #41. Reality Show sold 11,354 this week (sales: 9,710), while her total number rose up to 39,418.
9) Beyonce— Beyonce: Bey Bey comes in at #46 this week, descending from #39. Even after 59 long weeks on the charts, she remains a strong competitor. The singer sold 10,598 copies and streams of her self-titled album this week (sales: 3,831). Her total number climbed to 2,200,000.
This week on the Hot 100 Wale’s “The Boy” reaches a new peak at #93, and so does B.o.B’s “Not for Long” AT #91. Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” may have been on your own playlist for a minute now, but the New Jersey-bred rapper is finally making it onto the Hot 100, entering at #86 this week. Nicki Minaj’s “Truffle Butter” is also charting on the Hot 100 singles chart, at #71. Below that, we have Chris Brown and Tyga’s “Ayo” clocking in at #65, a climb up seven spots. The Weeknd’s “Often” reaches new heights at #59. Nicki Minaj and Beyonce continue to feel themselves after rising to #58, and there’s another new entry, with Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney’s “FourFiveSeconds” debuting at #54-- it won’t take long before we see that song takeover the #1 spot.