Trap Star Daily News: Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 1/31/2010

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 1/31/2010
February 03, 2010 10:23:00 AM CST | by Allen Jacobs

MTV's Hope For Haiti Now release stayed strong in its second week of release. Now coming in #2 just behind Country/Pop act Lady Antebellum's Need You Now, the compilation of songs specifically written for the tragedy includes work from already chartering acts such as Jay-Z, Rihanna, Alicia, Keys and Mary J Blige. Wyclef Jean was also involved. Proceeds from the sale go to relief efforts in Haiti, which were independent of the over $57 million raised by phone, text and web support over the weekend.

Michael Jackson's This Is It made a huge climb on the charts. The Epic Records soundtrack companion to the summer film surged 11 spots. Although the Grammy Awards aired Sunday, the tribute may have had a huge effect in the closing hours of the sales week, which runs Monday through Sunday.

The lone new Urban release was Corinne Bailey Rae's The Sea. The EMI/Blue Note project was met with warm reviews, and debuted at #7. The Black Eyed Peas maintained a Top 10 appearance with The E.N.D. The Los Angeles-based quartet's release crossed the 1.9 million mark, bringing them to the cusp of double platinum.

Alicia Keys' Element Of Freedom remained in the Top 10. The #7 J Records release appears to be two more weeks away from a platinum plaque, though Keys' involvement with the aforementioned telethon and other media appearances could drive sales faster.

* Please note: figures below approximated to nearest thousandeth.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)

Rank Artist Album This Week Est. Total
2
Various Artists
Hope For Haiti Now
143,000
314,000

6 Michael Jackson's
This Is It
55,000
1,404,000

7
Corinne Bailey Rae
The Sea
53,000
53,000

10
Black Eyed Peas
The E.N.D.
40,000
1,929,000

11
Alicia Keys
Element of Freedom
37,000
965,000

Lil Wayne and teammates' We Are Young Money approaches 300,000 just as Rebirth releases. Next week, Wayne will likely be the first rapper since T.I. to have two different albums on the Top 200. With Birdman, Jay Sean and the 350,000-plus-selling Drake already on the charts, Cash Money/Universal Records shows signs of early sales dominance in 2010, though Interscope continues to find a great magnitude of success in Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent and Eminem.

Speaking of Eminem's Relapse, that and Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 continue to sell very close week-to-week. The two efforts differred by less than 250 overall units sold. Both aim for multi-platinum status, with equal potential in the next quarter.

Kid Cudi is likely two weeks away from crossing the 300,000 mark. The Cleveland-born emcee/singer found a lot of success in his debut release Man On The Moon: The End Of Day. The G.O.O.D. Music rapper is said to be taking a new artistic direction with his 2010 sophomore effort, which will reportedly be a more positive, happier-sounding record. 50 Cent's Before I Self Destruct heads towards 400,000. The Interscope album may be Fif's last with his second major label.

Rank Artist Album This Week Est. Total
28
Young Money
We Are Young Money
19,000
270,000

40
Jay-Z Blueprint 3
14,000
1,578,000

41
Eminem
Relapse
14,000
1,805,000

85
Kid Cudi
Man On The Moon: The End Of Day
6,600
289,000

86
50 Cent
Before I Self Destruct
6,600
379,000