Hip Hop Sales: Week Ending 3/4/2012

This proved to be one of the most exciting weeks on the charts for the Hip Hop community this year. There were a few new additions, including a collaborative album from Kid Cudi and Dot Da Genius, self entitled "WZRD". Also appearing on the list are Brooklyn's very own Maino, Too $hort, and after a 7 year hiatus, Ja Rule.

Cudi and Dot's WZRD has done fairly well, earning the #2 spot for 66,000 sales last week. Cudi had also criticized his label Universal Republic for under-shipping CD copies, which limits the release's potential. This counts as Kid Cudi's 3rd overall album, and Dot's first.




Two New York rappers, Maino and Ja Rule, both released projects after their respective hiatuses. This is Maino's first album, surfacing 3 years after leaving his major record deal from Atlantic Records. He scored a top 100 debut for this sophmore album, Day After Tomorrow. Artists featured on the LP are T.I. and Meek Mill, along with a Best Buy exclusive version with appearances from Lloyd Banks, and Clinton Sparks' production. Maino's sales actually doubled those of Ja Rule. Rule, now incarcerated, acquired sales of just over 3,000 copies. Listed below are the sales statistics for the aforementioned, amongst other more popular artists.



Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 3/4/2012

#2 WZRD (Kid Cudu & Dot Da Genius) - WZRD - 66,000 (66,000)

#4. Tyga - Careless World: Rise Of The Last King - 37,000 (99,000)

#5. Drake - Take Care - 29,000 (1,525,000)

#19. Young Jeezy - TM 103: Hustler's Ambition - 15,000 (493,000)

#20. Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne - 15,000 (1,364,000)

#28. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter IV - 13,000 (2,039,000)

#43. Chiddy Bang - Breakfast - 11,000 (42,000)

#76. Maino - Day After Tomorrow - 6,300 (6,300)

#99. Too Short - No Tresspassing - 4,600 (4,600)

#145. Ja Rule - PIL2 (Pain Is Love 2) - 3,200 (3,200)

*Overall sales in parentheses

* data comes from Nielsen Soundscan, rounded to nearest thousandth for units above 10,000, nearest hundredth for units below 10,000