Looks like he’s still got it. Jay-Z took the top spot in the new Billboard 200 albums chart after selling 476,000 copies of The Blueprint 3, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
That’s not super-huge, but it’s a nice opening number for a guy who’s been in the rap game as long as Jay. In fact, he’s been making hit records for so long that this is his 11th trip to No. 1 on this chart, breaking his tie with Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 albums of any solo artist. The only person or band with more chart-toppers to its name is the Beatles, who’ve racked up 19 No. 1s on Billboard’s flagship albums chart over the years. More on them later!
Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, Whitney Houston fell to No. 3, selling another 88,000 copies of her comeback disc. Raekwon came in at No. 4 with 68,000 copies sold of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt. II. The long-awaited sequel to his 1995 classic of similar name, OB4CL2 is a deep dose of head-knocking hip-hop the old-fashioned Wu-Tang way. A week after its release hasn’t been close to enough time for this fan to digest all of Rae’s complex crime narratives, and I’m glad to see his hard work rewarded with decent sales.
One spot below at No. 5 are Brooks & Dunn, who announced their imminent breakup last month. A solid 55,000 fans said goodbye by purchasing #1s…and Then Some, the long-running country duo’s latest best-of set. Boys Like Girls, meanwhile, found 41,000 people who liked Love Drunk, their second pop-punk album, for a No. 8 finish.
Two other entries of note came from those aforementioned Beatles, whose new box set releases both went on sale this past week: Their Stereo Box Set bowed at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 with 26,000 copies sold, while the limited-edition The Beatles in Mono made it to No. 40 with 12,000. I’m impressed so many fans were willing to plunk down the $200-range price for either one.
The real sales action for the Beatles, however, was on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart, which tracks releases that are 18 months and older. The Fab Four’s individual remastered albums, unshockingly, dominated the Top 10 of that chart. No. 1 went to 1969’s Abbey Road, with 89,000 CDs sold. Next came Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (No. 2; 74,000), The Beatles a.k.a. The White Album (No. 3; 60,000), Rubber Soul (No. 4; 58,000), and Revolver (No. 5; 46,000).
After a brief pause at No. 6 for Michael Jackson’s Number Ones, still selling well (45,000) two and a half months after his untimely death, the Beatles’ inexorable march continued. Help! took No. 7 with 39,000, followed by Let It Be (No. 8; 32,000), Past Masters Vol. 1 and 2 (No. 9; 31,000), and Magical Mystery Tour (No. 10; 30,000).
What do you think of this week’s results? Did Jay-Z do as well as you expected? Are you surprised by the order in which the Beatles’ remasters charted? Weigh in below.
More from EW’s Music Mix:
Whitney Houston tops the albums chart
Jay-Z “Answers the Call” in NYC with help from Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye West…
Kanye West and Taylor Swift: Why do people care so much about this story?
Alicia Keys’ “Doesn’t Mean Anything” hits the Web: Hear it here
Comments (1-15) of 22 Add your comment
Actually the Beatles sold more than 1 million CDs this week, when you consider that each of the 26,000 stereo sets included 13 CDs and each of the 12,000 mono sets sold included 10 CDs. That’s 458,000 CDs from the box sets alone! Not to mention the other 600,000 sold. Pretty impressive in this digital era.
No surprises at all. Beatles fans have been waiting for these remasters for more than a decade now (some would argue 22 years!).
Surprised that “Abbey Road” was the #1 Beatles re-master. I would have expected “Sgt. Pepper.”
Didn’t Jay come out on Friday? That’s about a half a week less to get big numbers.
How far down did Whitney’s sales drop? (And not one hit single.)
The thing noone mentions is the abysmal sales numbers of all these artists now. Did they say No. 3 record sold 88k copies. Thats nothing. This music industry is totally dead. They have absolutely no way to make money in the digital era cause they refuse to stop charging 20$ for a cd. They need to change with the times.
Yeah, because they need to talk about that every single week….
The music industry is not dead. Most money is made from itunes digital singles sales. And where are you shopping that a CD is 20 bucks?
Very strong start for Jay-Z’s album! Even bigger than his last one! Few rap artists can stay as consistent sales wise like he has. He took the time to make a solid album and it’s great that the music buying public responded! This is just as addictive both lyrically and catchy as his Blueprint album of 2001 and his 1998 album. Even the three Timbaland-produced songs give the 7 Kanye West-produced songs a run for their money! Congrats, Hova!
Yes, theevilhim, where are you buying CD’s for $20. I always love reading article and posts where people who support illegal downloading use the CD’s cost $20 so that’s why the industry is down.
actually i think 13 CD set sold 2000 copies and 10cd set sold 1200 because billboard counts actual CD-s sold – for example double album counts double number sold… But still impressive tho.
Nope, you’re wrong. Billboard counts a box set as a single sale, no matter how many CDs are in it. The stereo set sold 26,000 units. It’s at No. 15 on the Billboard chart. The mono set, at No. 40, sold 10,000 units.
The point is when you consider that the 26,000 stereo sets amounts to 338,000 CDs sold, and the mono-set sales amounts to 120,000 CDs, that gives the Beatles over 1,000,000 CDs sold in less than a week.
Correction: The mono set sold 12,000.
that’s wierd, because i know for a fact that double albums are (were?!) counted as double number.
Well, Billboard’s own Web site specifically states that each box counts as 1 sale — not as 14 CDs or however many are inside the set.
Jay-Z’s album dropped on Tuesday, thus destroying the marketing plan… but adding 3 days of sales.
The Beatles’ mono set sold all it could… According to EMI they only made 12,000 total for the U.S. market.
Most current CDs cost between $8 and $13 in their first week due to sales and promotions.
Getting facts straight for ya..
I’ve never understood the popularity of the Beatles, whether it be 1964 or 2009. They were the worst thing ever to happen to popular music.
(sigh)
So what should people be listening to oh music guru?
wat about chevelle?
Not like the Beatles? Interesting. Does joy also bother you? How about sunshine? Does nonjudgemental love also get on your nerves?