THIS WEEK HIP-HOP & R&B ALBUMS SALES

Sales Wrap: "Notorious" Soundtrack Debuts W/ 43k, Beyonce Takes Two Steps Up The Charts, Ludacris' "Theater" Sells Golden Ticket

Written by Cyrus Langhorne

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:20:00
sales-wrap-300x300-2009-01-21.jpg

In this week's Sales Wrap, Beyonce moves up to No. 2, Notorious soundtrack debuts At No. 4 and Ludacris' Theater of The Mind breaks 500k.

Beyonce's I Am...Sasha Fierce marched two spots upward this week to No. 2 with 49,200 copies sold. According to Nielsen Soundscan, the singer's third solo project has sold 1,634,400 discs after nine weeks on shelves.

The Notorious soundtrack debuted this week at No. 4. After seven days in stores, the album shelled out 43,000 copies while the movie hit weekend sales of over $20mil.

Mega producer Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreaks dropped two slots to No. 5 this week with 39,500 scanned discs. After two months, Ye's third album has sold a total of 1,184,900 units.

Academy Award-winning artist Jamie Foxx's Intuition remained at No. 8 this week with 31,400 sold discs. Completing his fifth week, the singer's new album has pushed 479,600 pieces.

Grammy-nominated singer Keyshia Cole's A Different Me slipped two notches to No. 9 with 31,300 sold discs. After five weeks, her latest project has scanned 570,400 sold units.

Akon's Freedom dropped two spots this week landing at No. 12 with 23,300. His third solo album has sold 400,500 pieces after seven weeks in stores.

T.I. also took a slight dip as Paper Trail fell four slots to No. 17 with 20,200. After four months in stores, Tip's new album has sold 1,596,800 copies.

Multi-platinum selling singer Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad slipped one spot to No. 20 with 17,100 sold copies. Her latest project has sold a total of 2,294,600 after 85 weeks.

Grammy-nominated rapper Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III slipped one spot to No. 23 with 15,400 scanned units. After eight months on store shelves, Weezy's album has sold a total of 2,933,500 units.

Rapper-turned-actor Ludacris' Theater of the Mind slipped five spots this week landing at No. 25 with 14,900. After two months, his sixth solo project has been certified gold with 504,100 sold copies.

Ne-Yo's Year of the Gentleman dropped three spots to No. 29 with 14,200. The singer's third album has sold a total of 827,100 units after 18 weeks.

Meanwhile, Anthony Hamilton's soulful Point of it All fell two spots to No. 32 with 13,500. With five weeks under his belt, his new album has sold a total of 226,000.

R&B singer John Legend's Evolver moved up eight spots to No. 33 this week with 13,200 scanned discs. After three months on shelves, Legend's third album has sold 490,500 copies.

Southern rapper Plies' Da REAList fell nine positions to No. 41 with 11,100 sold copies. After five weeks in stores, the rapper's latest project has sold 217,400 units.

R&B superstar Leona Lewis' Spirit creeped back in to Top 50 moving eight spots up to No. 49 with 9,400 units. After 41 weeks, the singer's debut album has shelled 1,425,900.