GAME WON
The Interscope Compton rapper’s The R.E.D. Album debuts at #1 this week on the HITS Top 50 sales chart with 96k, a far cry from the 239k racked up by his last album, 2008’s LAX, which went on to sell 765k.
That was enough to beat back fellow hip-hop icons Jay Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne album, which slips to #2, adding another 88k to its total.
XL/Columbia Grammy front-runner Adele’s 21 is actually up 3% at #3, with 83k added to its 3 million plus cume.
Adele labelmate Barbra Streisand is the next biggest debut at #4 with What Matters Most, her double-CD tribute to longtime songwriter/collaborators Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Capitol/EMI’s Now 39 rounds out the Top 5.
Columbia Nashville’s digital-only Pistol Annies, the band formed by Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, debuts with 44k for their nicely named debut, Hell on Heels, followed by fellow country stars, Capitol Nashville/EMI’s Luke Bryan (#7), Broken Bow’s long-running Jason Aldean (#8) and Capitol Nashville/EMI’s Eric Church (#10). Disney’s Muppets: Green Album tribute, featuring Weezer, OK Go, The Fray, My Morning Jacket and the Airborne Toxic Event, among others, is the other Top 10 newcomer at #9.
Universal Republic Nashville’s Sunny Sweeney (#23) is the only other new Top 50 entry, while Jive/JLG labelmates Chris Brown (#47) and Britney Spears (#48) re-enter, thanks to MTV Video Music Awards exposure.
Def Jam/IDJ’s Rihanna is the largest double-digit gainer, moving #35-20, +54%, followed by Universal Republic’s Amy Winehouse (#50-34, +24%), Glassnote’s Mumford & Sons (#16-15, +18%), Capitol/EMI’s Katy Perry (#14, +17%), A&M/Octone’s Maroon 5 (#33-29, +12%), Jagjaguwar’s Bon Iver (#45-39, +11%) and Blues Babe/WB’s Jill Scott (#41-33, +10%).
This week, Cash Money/Universal Republic’s Lil Wayne and WB’s Red Hot Chili Peppers lead a release slate that includes RCA Nashville’s Jake Owen, Capitol/EMI’s David Guetta, Fueled by Ramen’s Cobra Starship, Surfdog’s Glen Campbell and Roadrunner’s Lenny Kravtiz.
