The first few weeks of January are actually a great time to see who's really at the top of the game. Labels never put out big albums in the beginning of the year, they spend all their money on the holiday rush, so there are on new albums getting a debut boost on on the charts, leaving only the heavy hitters to slug it out for the top ten album slots. And who are those heavy hitters? Besides Taylor Swift at number one,
Em's "Recovery" is number two,
Rihanna's "Loud" is number three,
Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" is four,
Kanye's "Dark Twisted Fantasy" is five and
Bruno Mars' "Doo-Wops & Hooligans" is seven. So people don't buy urban albums anymore?
Top Digital Urban Song Sales (w/ units sold)
1. Bruno Mars - Grenade (424,906)
2. (6th overall) Rihanna - What's My Name (262,285)
3 (7th overall). Wiz Khalifa - Black & Yellow (261,342)
4 (9th overall). Trey Songz ft. Nicki Minaj - Bottoms Up (224,432)
5 (10th overall). Nelly - Just a Dream (204,369)
6 (11th overall). Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are (198,935)
7 (12th overall). Lil Wayne ft. Cory Gunz - 6 Foot 7 Foot (182,712)
8 (13th overall). Taio Cruz - Dynamite (180,428)
9 (14th overall). Far East Movement - Like a G6 (169,772)
10 (15th overall). Waka Flocka ft. Roscoe Dash - No Hands (168,491)
The Refined Take:
1) Wiz Khalifa is a officially a phenomenon, and a blueprint for independent artists in the modern age. By taking the time to build a huge fanbase completely independent of a major label he's ensured himself some real stability. As surprising as it is to see a "weed" rapper in the top ten, "Black & Yellow" could break the top five in the next few weeks. And now for the question everyone's asking; what's the next single?
2) Speaking of people with rabid fan bases, Lil Wayne's got a song that's essentially "A Milli pt. 2" near the top of the charts with very little promotion. Just wait until he rolls out that inevitable Drake single off "Carter IV", that shit's going to sell like Cheetos as at a Wiz Khalifa concert.
3) On the not-so-good side of things, T.I. has to be disappointed in how "No Mercy" has performed - it hasn't even sold 100,000 copies yet! (It's at 75,000. By contrast, Jamie Foxx's new album came out later and is at 115,000). Shockingly, it turns out constant arrests aren't exactly good for your career.
4) Speaking of terrible album sales, guess how many units "Last Train to Paris" has done. Nope, lower, Keep going. Even lower. Yep, 40,000. Ouch. Let's hope Diddy takes those sales to mean "I should stop making albums" and not "I need to make another album to get back on top."
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..Trey Songz' "
Can't Be Friends". Hey, not every track can be "Bottoms Up".
