The Numbers Game: Ariana Grande, Tamar Braxton, & John Legend

John Legend

This week we saw a plethora of new R&B releases hit the charts but the #1 spot went to new Pop princess/possible J. Lo replacement Ariana Grande with her debut album Yours Truly. I guess I gotta include her here because she does sing over Hip-Hop samples.

Tamar Braxton‘s Love & War gets the #2 position and sells almost double then John Legend’s new album (What?). If we are going to compare her to recent reality star K. Michelle’s release, who is also maybe her nemesis, both albums landed at #2 but Tamar Braxton sold more with 115,000.

Speaking of John Legend, his 4th album Love in the Future gets the #4 spot this week and had the great distinction of the only one on this post that I’ve actually listened to (That’s probably why he gets the featured image this week too).

Pulling up the rear, Jaheim‘s Appreciation Day sells 58,000 copies and lands at #6 and Raheem DeVaughn‘s A Place Called Love Land comes in at #21 and sells 18,000 copies.


#1 Ariana Grande – Yours Truly (Last Week: N/A) – 138,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#2 Tamar Braxton – Love & War (Last Week: N/A) – 115,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#4 John Legend – Love in the Future (Last Week: N/A) – 68,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#6 Jaheim – Appreciation Day (Last Week: N/A) – 58,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#7 Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines (Last Week: #5) – 57,000; Total: 449,000 [7 Weeks]
#9 Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience (Last Week: #6) – 38,000; Total: 2,256,000 (2x Platinum) [24 Weeks]
#15 Juicy J – Stay Trippy (Last Week: #4) – 22,000; Total: 86,000 [2 Weeks]
#18 Jay-Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail (Last Week: #14) – 20,000; Total: 957,000 (Gold) [9 Weeks]
#21 Raheem DeVaughn – A Place Called Love Land (Last Week: N/A) – 18,000; Total: N/A [Debut]
#22 TGT – Three Kings (Last Week: #11) – 18,000; Total: 113,000 [3 Weeks]
#24 Big Sean – Hall of Fame (Last Week: #3) – 18,000; Total: 89,000 [2 Weeks]
#27 Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist (Last Week: #13) – 16,000; Total: 1,057,000 (Platinum) [48 Weeks]
#41 K. Michelle – Rebellious Soul (Last Week: #29) – 10,000; Total: 115,000 [4 Weeks]

Hip-Hop + R&B album sales for the week of September 3rd (Top 50 & New Releases)