The Charts: Lil Wayne Slaughters The Competition, Lands At No. 1

Thursday - June 19, 2008
By: BallerStatus News Staff

It's official, Lil Wayne crushed the competition on this week's Billboard 200, landing at no. 1 with Tha Carter III. As reported yesterday, Lil Wayne moved just over 1 million copies of the new set -- 1,005,500 to be exact -- becoming the first album since 50 Cent's 2005 album, The Massacre, to cross the six-figure sales mark in its opening week.

No album 2006 was able to do the feat, and the largest week since the 2005 50 Cent album was Kanye West's Graduation, which sold 957,000 copies to open.

Sales of Tha Carter III are credited to high popularity and the cross-over success of his first single, "Lollipop," and other tracks beginning to take off such as "A Milli" and "Got Money," the second single.

Right behind Wayne is another southern rapper. Plies' Definition Of Real comes in at no. 2, selling 215,000 copies, thanks to the success of his hit single "Bust It Baby Pt. 2," which is working its way up the singles chart.

Although it's not a new release, Usher's Here I Stand fell within the top 5, dipping from no. 3 to no. 5 this week with 101,000 copies, putting his three-week total at 689,000 copies sold.

Later down the line at no. 7 is Pharrell Williams' group, N.E.R.D., who released their first album in four years. Seeing Sounds bowed at no. 7 with 80,000 copies sold.

Outside the top 10, we see Ashanti at no. 13. After debuting at no. 6 last week, the singer's new album The Declaration took a sales hit of 61%, selling 34,000 copies. She's sold 120,400 copies in two weeks.

The last release within the top 20 is Leona Lewis' Spirit, dropping to no. 14 with 32,700 copies sold this week. Her 10-week total is 773,000 copies.

While Weezy killed the competition, his young California protégé, Tyga, went almost unnoticed. His debut, No Introduction, sold just 6,790 copies.

According to Billboard.com, album sales are up 22.8% from last week's sum at 9.29 million units, but are down 3.1% compared to the same week last year.

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