This week’s charts give a handy dose of tough love. The flow of the charts may have not changed much, but some artists took a great fall- including some of our newly added acts. However, most acts found the strength to stay near last week’s position, either moving up a couple of spots or vice versa. We have new albums from a hip-hop artist: Ludacris. Gorillaz also dropped a new one on us. Who came up on top? Let’s march to the charts.
A lot of people have been cheering for Sade ever since her return, but just like last week, she falls short of the top position. Instead of the songstress, we have the lyrical wordsmith
Ludacris debuting at #1 with 136,010 sold for his seventh album, “Battle of the Sexes.” The project was initially supposed to be a collaboration between Ludacris and former Disturbing The Peace artist Shawna, who left the label in 2009. Now the project is a solo album, which features a swirl of guest appearances with production credits to match. Singles for the album include the dance track “How Low” and “My Chick Bad,” which features the new female Weezy, Nick Minaj. Other artists on the album include Trey Songz, Gucci Mane, Monica, Lil’ Kim and Flo Rida. Producers on the tracks range between The Neptunes, The Runners and “Lemonade” producer Bangladesh.
Grabbing the #2 spot is another debut: Gorillaz. The virtual British band sells 110,798 for their new album “Plastic Beach.” This is the third album to be released from the hip-hop/alternative/electronic group since their 2005 release “Demon Days.” Different from the previous two albums, “Plastic Beach” has a strong pop sound. But even though the album may be geared towards a more mainstream audience, that doesn’t stop the band from discussing topics such as consumerism and ecology. The current single for the album is “Stylo,” which features Mos Def and Bobby Womack. Other artists noted on the album include Snoop Dogg, Little Dragon and hip-hop classic group, De La Soul.
Now, we finally reach Sade on the charts. Falling from last week’s #2 position, she now lands in #6 with 55,005 sold for “Solider of Love.” Lady Gaga follows and stays in last week’s position for “The Fame,” which sold 48,379. Black Eyed Peas drop one into the #9 slot, selling 42,852 for “The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies).” Lil Wayne moves up one into #11 with 28,374 for “Rebirth.” Justin Bieber moves out of his previous #15 position into #12 with 28,109 sold for “My World.” Ke$ha also moves up to #13 for “Animal,” selling 26,742 for the week.
Rihanna jumps the charts but not in a “rude” way at all. Moving from #25 to this week’s #17, RiRi sells 22,469 for “Rated R.” Opposite from RiRi, Lady Gaga falls from her previous #16 into #21, selling 21,956 for “The Fame Monster” EP. Alicia Keys comes in this week at #22 with 20,130 sold for “The Element of Freedom.” Trey Songz lands at #23 for “Ready,” selling 19,391. One of last week’s debuts, Raheem Devaughn falls from his previous #11 position into #25, selling 18,547 for “The Love & War MasterPeace.” Mary J. Blige doesn’t move as she stays in last week’s position of #29, selling 17,329 for “Stronger with Each Tear.” Taking a greater fall than Devaughn, our other debut Jason Derülo strays away from his previous #9 position into #30, selling 16,552 for his self-titled album. Jaheim drops nine spots into #32 for “Another Round,” selling 15,365. Young Money comes in at #33 and 15,328 sold for “We Are Young Money.” Some may be shocked, but closing out the charts this week is Melanie Fiona selling 11,242 into the #49 spot for “The Bridge.”
So this week we’re missing Gucci Mane and long time charter, Jay-Z. No urban album will be released next week, so stay tuned to see if Ludacris can continue to hold down the top spot.
Written By Shabazz
