The Numbers Game: Jay-Z Is #1
September 17, 2009 by B-Easy
“Please don’t bow in my presence/How am I a legend?/I just got 10 number one albums/Maybe now 11?” (From “Thank You” by Jay-Z). I don’t think anyone is surprised that Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3 captured the #1 spot on top of the Billboard charts (Now it’s 11). Seeing that this album leaked nearly two weeks prior to the official release, I think selling 476,100 albums in the first week is a win. But I won’t spend too much time on Hova though; We got another important release this week (And some jackasses might start bitching about me giving Jay-Z any props). Note: Jay-Z also came in at #30 because of Def Jam’s re-release of The Blueprint/The Blueprint2 collection. Clap for him.
The other big release this week is by none other that The Chef himself Raekwon. Even though I do a weekly column called The Numbers Game, I really believe that an album’s quality or success shouldn’t be strictly measured in sales. I think as soon as the general consensus came in that Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… PT II was a great album, it is was successful right then and there. Besides that, it didn’t do too bad on the charts either. Coming in at #4 is a really good look for Rae. But it does make me scratch my head that I heard constant “classic” chants about the album last week but you punks couldn’t push the album sales in the 100,000’s. Still good though.
#1 Jay-Z/The Blueprint 3 (Last Week: NA) – 476,100; Total: NA [Debut]
#3 Whitney Houston/I Look To You (Last Week: #1) – 88,000; Total: 398,900 [2 weeks]
#4 Raekwon/Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… PT II (Last Week: NA) – 67,900; Total: NA [Debut]
#6 Trey Songz/Ready (Last Week: #3) – 45,100; Total: 177,900 [2 Weeks]
#7 Black Eyed Peas/The E.N.D. (Last Week: #11) – 43,500; Total: 1,071,100 (Platinum) [14 Weeks]
#17 Maxwell/BLACKsummers’night (Last Week: #15) – 22,300; Total: 740,600 (Gold) [10 Weeks]
#24 Pitbull/Rebelution (Last Week: #8) – 17,800; Total: 59,100 [2 Weeks]
#30 Jay-Z/The Blueprint Collectors Edition (Last Week: NA) – 14,000; Total: NA [Debut]
#32 Eminem/Relapse (Last Week: #30) – 13,700; Total: 1,424,600 (Platinum) [17 Weeks]
#33 Fabolous/Loso’s Way (Last Week: #32) – 13,600; Total: 220,900 [7 Weeks]
“Coming in at #4 is a really good look for Rae. But it does make me scratch my head that I heard constant “classic” chants about the album last week but you punks couldn’t push the album sales in the 100,000’s”
There are so many things wrong with this comment that it just shows how hurt the hip hop game is right now, and it’ll never get revived.
The difference between these two is that Raekwon didn’t chose to sell out like Jay. Jay will pick beats just because it might be the next popular thing. The Chef kept his shit original. But being original is obviously played out for the radio, mtv, and bet. Just shows how weak the hip hop game is right now.
I bet anything, Jay-Z has paid twice as much more on advertising then Raekwon made this week. Must be nice when you can spend more than half of the labels adversting budget on yourself.
Let’s not forget the fact that Jay probably bought 100K albums for himself.
nah, you got him confused with Fiddy!
Lets rewind the clock back to 1998 when Kast’s Aquemini and Jay’s Vol. 2 came out the same day. Kast was reported to have the #1 spot, when MAGICALLY Jay ends up with the #1 album.
there is STILL a warehouse in Brooklyn somewhere with those CD’s in it.
REAL TALK
Well someone, Enuff I think, made a crack to Jay about buying up albums and he convincingly said that’s a stupid concept. Eleven albums in and with a fanbase like his, does he really care, or need to? And bringing it back to 98…shit I was in elementary school then so I can’t debate that but damn. (Kanye voice) Haters…
@ Chip
Yeah. I heard Jay-Z say that on Angie Martinez.
B-Easy said real shit. Probs all the people who said that the album was classic downloaded it. it doesnt matter that Raekwon didnt promote as much as Hov. Raekwon has a big fanbase of dedicated hip-hop heads. If they couldnt move the album past 100k, it shows their true colors.
Rae doesn’t have NEAR the fanbase of Jay. There is NO WAY that he was going to sell over a 100K.
Rae did good, but don’t front like Wu-tang doesnt have a decent fanbase.
“Men Lie, Women Lie, but numbers don’t” (c) Hov
Jay sold well after leaks? “Carter 3″ ***walks away***
COSIGN ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Oh so now we’re fronting like gold in a week isn’t good shit in today’s sales climate? Damn.
Once again “Carter 3″ ***Walks Away*** That was last year buddy.
Platinum in first week is amazing, gold is not to be sniffed at.
It is when you’re Jay-Z. Actually it’s laughable. T.I. sold more than this.
Another thing to add is that Jay had about 10 times as many albums in stores than rae. Last saturday, 2 bestbuys sold out completely of only built 4 cuban linx II while there was about 30 albums of blueprint 3 left. I also heard that with a few other record stores in town.
…Didn’t Rae outsell Jay on tuesday for itunes???? how are these numbers so tweaked. i’m not trying to make excuses, but i don’t think jay really sold that much.
FYI guys: Jay Z has always only sold round 400,000-500,000 albums in the first week. His highest first week sales was only 680,000. And that was for Kingdom Come.
But I think everyone did well. I know Raekwon’s album is fire, but there was no way he would be able to outsell super mainstream Jay Z. Oh well. KID CUDI BETTER BE SELLIN HIGH NUMBERS NEXT WEEK!
I was just about to type that until I saw you did. Good shit. Everybody knows that Jay’s stats are weird, Best Rapper Alive, but he has never done more than the range homie above listed and he’s never had a number one single either. These numbers are standard Jay numbers so really he hasn’t missed a beat, but even if Em did those numbers it’d be good beef for the way sales are going.
Damn some of yall niggas be riding Jay.
Ya’ll should be ashamed.
Rae’s last album charted at #102, and the new one managed to get to #4, with both being on a major label. Even with the hype, i’d say that’s kinda hard to make that big of a difference between albums, especially in this day in age when artists gain popularity but still lose record sales.