For
the last few weeks I've been posing the question, "can anyone top
Eminem's '
Recovery' sales this year?" Well, every week that goes by it look more and more unlikely that anyone - anyone- will be able to touch Slim Shady this year. True, both Kanye and T.I. have albums coming out this year, and if anyone can do it it's them, but it's now been four weeks since the album dropped and it's still selling about 200,000 copies a week. Considering it's already moved 1.5 million units, it's not crazy to think "Recovery" will have sold three or even four million by the time Christmas rolls around. Those numbers, frankly, in this day and age, are pistachios. They're Planters. As a reference point, Luda's "Battle of the Sexes", which was a number one album itself, has been out for 19 weeks and has yet to even crack 500,000. I could be eating these words come 2011, but I'm calling it now. "Recovery" is the highest selling hip-hop album of the year.
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. Eminem ft. Rihanna - Love the Way You Lie (351,919)
2. Taio Cruz - Dynamite (221,371)
3. Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (235,694)
4. B.o.B. ft. Hayley Williams - Airplanes (166,277)
5 (6th overall). Mike Posner ft. Big Sean - Cooler Than Me (159,908)
6 (7th overall). Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars - Billionaire (145,917)
7 (8th overall). Jason Derulo - Ridin Solo (138,198)
8 (9th overall). Eminem - Not Afraid (134,476)
9 (10th overall). Usher ft. will.i.am - OMG (115,575)
10 (12th overall). Drake - Find Your Love (73,955)
The Refined Take:
1) As if the number one album wasn't enough, Eminem's also got two top ten singles, and one of them's the clear number one. On a purely hip-hop level I still don't think "Recovery" is his best album, but I'm obviously part of the minority. People can not get enough of this man. Who would have thought a tattooed, white rapper from Detroit with a serious drug problem would be the highest selling rapper in the game? The more you think about it, the more incredible it gets.
2) Ok, one last Eminem thought for the day. Today RapRadar posted an article about the impending "
Rick Ross vs. Eminem Sales Battle" because super-early indications of "Teflon Don" sales suggest it could move as many 180,000 units, which might be enough to knock Eminem from the number one slot. Hold on, let me get my rant together....How is This a "Battle"!!! Rick Ross could potentially maybe perhaps sell as many albums in his first week as Em does in his fifth!? Eminem sold 700,000 copies his first week!!! That's not a battle! Eminem poops Rick Ross' album sales numbers when he's got food poisoning. Stop trying to manufacture drama for ratings RapRadar, that's fucking ridiculous. Ok, there, I think I'm done.
3) For the record, after
much debate last week, I decided not to include Enrique Iglesias' hit "
I Like It" in the top ten urban songs countdown because, even with Pitbull on the track, it's just a pop song plain and simple. I'm sure Enrique will be upset I've jettisoned him, but he can console himself with the fact that he used to
bone Anna Kournikova.
4) Have we ever determined what the cut-off line for a "one hit wonder" officially is? Personally, I feel like you're one hit wonder if you had a top-ten hit, and then failed to have another song crack the top 50 (you can call me a hater all you want Mims, but numbers don't lie). Using those criteria, it's interesting to note that we can't call the New Boyz one hit wonders (that
atrocious song with Ray-J cracked the top 50, and their
new joint is currently at 52). On the other hand, I think we can pretty safely call Cali Swag District and
their dougie ways one-hit wonders and move on.
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..Birdman, Lil Wayne and Tyga for "
Loyalty"! Cash Money needs some more loyalists if they want to maintain their status as a superpower. Or they need Weezy out of jail. Either or.
