With the help of the success of his hit single "Love in this Club" Usher's newest effort, Here I Stand, has taken the #1 spot on the charts with just under 443,000 sold in its debut week. Following not far behind, Bun B holds the #4 spot with II Trill selling 40,000 units this week. This week, Bun B was bested by The Sex and the City soundtrack and 3 Doors Down's self-titled album respectively.
Mariah Carey holds onto a top ten spot at #8. E=MC2 sold 35,500 copies this week which places the diva still short of platinum (she has sold a total of 967,500). With production help from The Roots' Amir "?uestlove" Thompson and James Poyser, as well as tracks featuring John Legend, Corrine Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton, Blue Note recording artist Al Green debuted his 30th studio album, Lay It Down, at #9 this week. The living legend sold just under 34,000 copies. Meanwhile, Denver, CO rap group Flobots take the #18 spot with their second album, Fight With Tools, selling just over 19,000.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B) Rank Artist Album This Week Total 1 Usher Here I Stand 442,930 443,974 4 Bun B II Trill 40,222 138,566 8 Mariah Carey E=MC2 35,581 967,568 9 Al Green Lay It Down 33,753 33,953 18 Flobots Fight With Tools 19271 74524
A little further down the charts, Rick Ross takes the #25 spot with Trilla selling just over 15,000. Lyfe Jennings' Lyfe Change holds the #29 spot with 14,000 sold. The Roots' Rising Down, though met with many stellar reviews, still declines on the charts this week and lands at #85 selling 7,500 copies. Snoop Dogg still can't find his way to Gold, with Ego Trippin' selling a total of 331,300 in its 12th week on the charts. Ego Trippin took the #99 spot this week. To round out the top 100, Gnarls Barkley's The Odd Couple sold 6,700 copies this week (a 21.4% increase from last week).
Other Notables Rank Artist Album This Week Total 25 Rick Ross Trilla 15,140 550,186 29 Lyfe Jennings Lyfe Change 14,101 161,045 85 The Roots Rising Down 7,517 104,928 99 Snoop Dogg Ego Trippin 6,793 331,365 100 Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple 6,781 171,343
Everyone knows that June 10th sees the release of Lil Wayne's The Carter III. In the meanwhile, check next week to see if Usher can hold down that #1 spot.