Breaking into the new year and new decade, this week’s first top 50 makes a dramatic shift- especially for urban acts! Although girl power still dominates the charts, other acts are climbing and making their return back to the roster. But even though we may feel the urge to celebrate on behalf of the progress of urban acts, numbers have dropped tremendously for the chart as a whole… blame it on the new year maybe? There may not be any new urban releases added to the charts this week, but let’s investigate how Mary J. Blige, Young Money, Hurricane Chris and Eminem are holding up since their debuts two weeks ago. Did one of these acts shake Susan Boyle out of her #1 spot? Let’s move to the charts.
Well, if you thought anyone was capable of breaking Boyle‘s winning streak of her #1 position… you can think again. This week, Boyle does it again and remains #1… not shocking is it?
This next best selling artist of the decade has jumped the charts dramatically, pushing all newcomers aside. Lady Gaga comes in at #2 this week for her original debut project “Fame.” Making a leap from last week’s position of #6, Gaga sells 84,458 copies this week. How Gaga managed to make a comeback after 61 weeks on the charts, nobody knows. Maybe it has been her performances in the late December and early January tour stops for the “Monster Ball” tour. Anyway, Gaga’s EP “Fame Monster” comes in at #11 with 42,828 copies sold. That’s the same position and just about the same numbers as last week.
Taking the #3 spot is “Empire State of Mind” singer Alicia Keys with “only” 70,671 copies sold for “The Element of Freedom.” One would expect Keys to have moved at least 100,000 units of “The Element Of Freedom.” Last week she closed the decade out in the same #3 position, but her numbers ranged between 270,000-280,000. Maybe next week she’ll move back up to her debuted #2 position… or even #1.
It may not be easy for Keys to grab control of that desired #2 or #1 position! In fact, veteran hip-hop/soul queen Mary J. Blige may be the one to give Keys a run for her money. Pushing Keys down a slot, Blige debuted last week at #2 and 330,000-340,000 copies sold for “Stronger with Each Tear.” This week, she drops a few spots down to #5, adding 56,982 copies sold. “Stronger with Each Tear” is Blige’s ninth studio album and the follow-up to her 2007 studio album “Growing Pains.” Returning back to the formula of feel good hits similar to “Just Fine,” Blige plays around with the infamous auto-tune on the lead commercial single “The One,” which features Canadian Young Money rapper Drake.
This next act made their debut last week and couldn’t seem to hit numbers like their boss man. Coming in at #12 this week is Lil Wayne’s new collective Young Money with 40,261 copies sold for their debut compilation effort “We Are Young Money.” They originally debuted at #9 selling 142,000 in their first week. The Young Money gang features some of hip-hop’s most talked about new names like Nicki Minaj and Drake. The project features the summer anthem “Every Girl” and current single “Bed Rock” which features former Murder Inc. member Lloyd on the hook. So far, “We Are Young Money” is Lil Wayne’s lowest charting album since his sophomore effort “Lights Out.”
Right behind the YM crew is Eminem at #13 with his re-vamped version of “Relapse: Refill” selling 39,547 units. Originally Slim Shady was supposed to release a sequel “Relapse 2,” but decided to “deliver more material for the fans like originally planned.” This new album version includes five new tracks and seven bonus tracks. Amongst these tracks is the hit “Forever” by Drake – which also features Kanye West, Lil Wayne and, of course, Eminem. “Relapse 2” is scheduled for release sometime this year.
Two weeks ago Rihanna landed at #20, but this week she sits pretty in the teens. She comes in at #14 with 39,358 more copies sold for “Rated R.” Rihanna can now let the celebration begin. Selling 209,000 copies abroad, she recently hit her million album sales mark with 1,013,000 copies sold in a total of five weeks! “Rated R” is Rihanna’s fastest selling album thus far.
Robin Thicke lands at #20 this week with 24,674 copies sold for “Sex Therapy.” As far as this next act is concerned, he made his comeback back on the charts two weeks ago and found a way to continue his reign into the new year. Jay-Z comes in right behind Thicke at #21 with 24,353 more copies sold for the “Blueprint III.” Gucci Mane climbs up a few spots from last week’s position and lands at #32 this week with 17,232 units moved for “The State vs. Radric Davis.”
The charts have been showing this next act tough love during the past few weeks, but now he works his way back onto the top 50 roster. Right behind Gucci is 50 Cent at #33, making his return to the charts with 16,744 copies sold of “Before I Self Destruct.” Seems like during the holiday sales for 50 slowly began to increase. So far, 50 has sold a pinch over 350,000 copies of “Before I Self Destruct.”
This next act is a face that the charts haven’t seen in a while. Taking the #37 slot is no other than Mr. Invented Sex, Trey Songz. Still pushing numbers for “Ready,” Trey sells 15,605 more copies. “Ready” is Trey’s highest selling album to date. Chris Brown still holds up in the top 50 coming in at #38 with 15,594 copies sold for “Graffiti.” So far the album has sold approximately 200,000 copies.
Added to the hefty list of artists who are returning to the charts is R&B diva Beyoncé. For an album that came out in late 2008, Beyoncé still manages to fit her alter-ego into the top 50. She sells 15,550 additional copies of the split-personality album, “I Am… Sasha Fierce.” So far, the album has sold over 6.1 million copies worldwide. Beyoncé has been touring extensively for the “I Am…” tour and hasn’t finished the whole gig yet. Let’s see how many times she jumps back on the chart list…
Wrapping up the top 50 for urban acts is another artist whose been taking a break from the charts. In fact, she’s quite like the Colombian version of Beyoncé. Shakira comes back to the charts at #48 with 13,805 copies sold for “She Wolf.” And if you didn’t notice, Louisiana’s Hurricane Chris didn’t exactly make the cut for the top 50 this week…
Check back next week to see where electro-pop songstress Ke$ha lands on the charts. Also, let’s see if any of these re-entries can stay relevant on the top 50 and hope the top 10 artists to sell at least 100,000 copies!
Written By Shabazz
