ChartWatch for December 23, 2009Welcome
back to ChartWatch where we run down the weekly sales in Hip Hop and
let you know about some of the latest albums coming out. It’s
almost Christmas so album sales are going up across the board as people
pick up gifts for friends and family. We’ll see if that boost
in sales helps out the world of Hip Hop. Let’s go ahead and
get the number one spot out of the way. It’s still Susan Boyle.
She sold another 659,000 copies of I Dreamed
A Dream. That monster of an album stops Alicia Keys from debuting
at number one, but don’t feel bad for Ms. Keys. The piano playing
extraordinaire enters the charts at the number two spot with her latest
album, Element of Freedom.
This
week there is no Hip Hop in the top ten but there are some representatives
in the top 50. The Black Eyed Peas move up a spot from 20 to 19
by selling 82,000 copies of their hit album The E.N.D.
Jay-Z
climbs back on the charts grabbing the 43rd spot by selling
39,000 copies of The Blueprint 3.
Finally,
Gucci Man takes a nose dive, dropping from 11 to 46 while selling 36,000
copies of his major label debut The State v.
Radric Davis
.Ok,
so the boost in sales didn’t necessarily help out the whole Hip Hop
community. At least Jay got back on the charts.
Dropping This Week
Like
I said earlier, Christmas is only a few days away. If you haven’t
finished you’re shopping yet you might want to pick up a CD or two.
Hey, maybe your grandma likes Lil’ Wayne. The self proclaimed
greatest rapper alive (although he’s kind of stopped saying that since
Jay-Z came out of retirement) is releasing arsenal of rappers on the
compilation We Are Young Money. Who is Young Money?
Young Money is Nicki Minaj, Drake, Jae Millz, Lil Twist, Tyga, Mack
Maine, Gudda Gudda, Shanel, T-Streets, Lil Chuckee and, of course, Lil
Wayne. I’m sure the majority of the people out there recognize
Drake, Nicki Minaj, and Wayne (I said the majority of the public so
keep that Jae Millz, Tyga, Gudda Gudda talk out of here) so now’s
the opportunity to meet the rest of the Young Money camp. The
album also features guest appearances from Lloyd, Birdman, Pleasure
P and Gucci Mane. If you’re trying to hear what’s going to
be on the radio for the next six months then you may want to pick this
one up.
Next
up is kind of a surprise for me because I would have thought this album
would have dropped awhile ago. You know…when the single was…what’s
the word I’m looking for?…oh yeah….hot. I don’t know who
dropped the ball on this one but Hurricane Chris drops his second album,
Unleashed
, with the lead single “Halle Berry (She’s Fine).”Hopefully the Shreveport, Louisiana rapper can capitalize off of another
single to help push the album. Unleashed features guest
appearances by Superstarr, Mouse, Mario, Plies, Bobby Valentino, Cherish,
Beanie Man, Isis, and Fiend 4 da Money. The album feature production
by Play-N-Skillz, The Inkredibles , Shawty Redd, Phunk Dawg, Q Smith,
Superstarr, Mouse, Rodnae, Friend Crack Alley Music, Don Vito, Blade,
Raphael RJ2, and Drum Majors.
Last
up is Eminem who capitalizes of the gift giving season by re-releasing
his chart topping album Relapse. Relapse: Refill is a
two disc album with seven more tracks than the original. If you
haven’t picked up the album then now’s not a bad time grab it and
get a few extra songs. It does have “Forever” on there (the
song that convinced me and the rest of Hip Hop that Eminem hadn’t
lost it) so it’s not a bad deal. This should hold everyone over
until Mr. Mathers releases Relapse 2. (Hey Em, don’t rap in
the funny voice. Leave the funny voice at home. Please!).
Merry
Christmas & Happy Holidays everyone! See you in the new year!