YES HE KANYE!
Say this about Kanye West: dude walks it like he talks it. After all the tweets, he delivers the sweets with his fifth Roc-A-Fella/IDJ/UMG album in six years, debuting at #1 on the HITS sales chart, for a first-week total of 519k.
Highly touted Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown newcomer Nicki Minaj lands one of the highest first-week sales for a female rapper ever, with 371k for her debut, Pink Friday, at #2.
Big Machine Country princess Taylor Swift’s Speak Now (#3), followed by Columbia’s 1-2 Simon Cowell combination of Susan Boyle (#4) and Jackie Evancho (#5) round out the top of the chart.
Island/IDJ teen phenom Justin Bieber’s Wal-Mart exclusive My Worlds Acoustic (#7), Def Jam/IDJ R&B triple threat Ne-Yo’s Libra Scale (#8) and Reprise emo-rockers My Chemical Romance (#9) all enter the Top 10, sandwiched by Def Jam/IDJ’s Rihanna (#6) and Columbia’s Glee Cast Christmas album (#10).
L.A. Reid’s IDJ labels score four of the Top 10, with Steve Barnett’s Team Columbia taking three and UMG landing six.
Other debuts of note include Kemosabe/RCA/RMG’s Ke$ha (#15), RCA/RMG’s Burlesque soundtrack (#18), G-Unit/ELS’ Lloyd Banks (#25), Arista Nashville’s Alan Jackson 34 Number Ones compilation (#36) and Def Jam/IDJ’s Jay-Z Hits Collection, Vol. 1 package (#41).
Walt Disney’s Hannah Montana Forever soundtrack (#43) and Kemosabe/RCA/RMG’s Ke$ha debut, Animal (#44), both re-enter the Top 50.
The week’s biggest gainers include Capitol/EMI’s Katy Perry, taking off from her third hit single, “Firework” and assorted TV appearances (#31-14, +195%), Island/IDJ’s Bieber (#32-19, +146%), Hollywood’s Selena Gomez & the Scene (#38-28, +85%), New Elektra’s Bruno Mars (#47-34, +84%) and RCA/RMG’s Kings of Leon (#40-31, +73%).
Interscope’s Black Eyed Peas hit the streets this week, along with Def Jam/IDJ’s Chrisette Michele, another
