This Week in Hip-Hop Sales: Fantasia Knocks Off Eminem. What?!?

What? I'm sorry...I just mean....what?!? Let me back up. This week Katy Perry knocked Eminem out of his extraordinarily long-standing position at number one. That's not much of a surprise. As a general rule. if mainstream white America loves you, like they love Perry, you can't be stopped. No, what surprised the hell out of me is who beat out "Recovery" for the number two spot...Fantasia's "Back to Me". And it wasn't even that close; Fantasia outsold Em 116,768 albums to 98,483. Obviously Marshall's time on top couldn't last forever, but I did not see Fantasia coming. At all. Her only single charting right now is "Bittersweet" which sits at - are you reading for this? - #166. Congratulations to her, I just haven't been this surprised since Plies landed a number one album.

Let's take a look at the top 10 urban selections on the "Digital Song Sales" for this week.

Top Digital Song Sales (w/ units sold)

1 (2nd overall). Eminem ft. Rihanna - Love the Way You Lie (181,557)
2 (3rd overall). Taio Cruz - Dynamite (177,906)
3 (4th overall). Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are (169,310)
4 (5th overall). Usher ft. Pitbull - DJ Got Us Fallin in Love (140,813)
5 (7th overall). Nelly - Just a Dream (116,875)
6 (8th overall). B.o.B. ft. Rivers Cuomo - Magic (115,484)
7 (10th overall). Lil Wayne ft. Drake - Right Above It (100,813)
8 (11th overall). Kid Cudi ft. Kanye West - Erase Me (99,350)
9 (13th overall). Flo-Rida ft. David Guetta - Club Can't Handle Me (89,034)
10 (14th overall). Mike Posner ft. Big Sean - Cooler Than Me (78,586)

The Refined Take:

1) For the record, Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" is sitting at the number one slot. She a pretty white pop singer, so I totally get why she's at number one. What I don't get is how many men think she's the sexiest woman alive. Really? She's got that girl next door appeal, but "sexiest" means "someone I want to have sex with". Out of all the women in the world, y'all want her the most? That's crazy talk. Anyway...

2) Damn, I can't remember the last time I saw a single yo-yo like Wayne and Drake's "Right Above It". Just one week after it debuted at the number one overall slot, Weezy's incarcerated single plummeted a full ten spots. In other words, anyone who really want this record has already either downloaded it or bought it. I can't see it making a resurgence after such a steep fall.

3) Did I mention that Fantasia's only track in the top 200 is #166's "Bittersweet"? I did? Sorry, I just still can't figure this out.

4) I'd like to officially say hello to "Erase Me", making a strong debut at the #11 slot. This type of crossover success is exactly why Cudi and Kanye decided to go with that rock sound. (See my earlier comment above about attracting mainstream white America.)

5) This week's Mr. Irrelevant Award, given to the song that sits at the absolute bottom of the charts (the number 200 spot), goes to..David Guetta and Kid Cudi's "Memories". Thanks for the memories guys. It was fun while it lasted.