This Week in Hip-Hop Sales: Eminem Lets Drake Know Who’s the Real #1

Just in case Drake was beginning to think he was kinda like a big deal when his absurdly anticipated "Thank Me Later" moved 450,000 units in his first week, Eminem stepped up this week and made him look like a boy playing a man's game. How does 741,413 copies of "Recovery" sound? Yep, those are grown man numbers. Actually, they're such historically epic numbers it's not even worth mentioning "Recovery" in the same breath as "Thank Me Later". For comparison purposes, Jay's "Blueprint 3", the biggest hip-hop album of the last few years, only did 476,000. Yep, that's right. Em nearly doubled the all-mighty Hova. As long as Wayne stays locked up, there's no longer any question who the biggest rapper in the game is. All hail Slim Shady.

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 (337,782)
2. Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg - California Gurls (301,666)
3. B.o.B. ft. Hayley Williams - Airplanes (195,808)
4. Usher ft. will.i.am - OMG (174,767)
5. Travie McCoy ft. Bruno Mars - Billionaire (169,974)
6. Mike Posner ft. Big Sean - Cooler Than Me (147,736)
7. Eminem - Not Afraid (131,582)
8. Jason Derulo - Ridin Solo 128,265)
9. Drake - Find Your Love (117,311)
10. Taio Cruz - Dynamite 111,885

The Refined Take:

1) Well that was quick. It turns out that Drake's marketing push behind first week sales was on point, but it wasn't enough to sustain major sales. This week sales of "Thank Me Later" plummeted from 450,000 to 150,000, which is still pretty good - good enough for the number two album in the country. Instead of pitting Eminem and Drake against each other though, we should be celebrating the fact that there are two hip-hop albums on the top of the charts! And they said hip-hop didn't sell albums any more.

2) Speaking of which, do you realize that urban music has locked up all top ten spots!!! Fuck yeah! (I know Katy Perry isn't urban, but she's got Snoop on that track - be quiet, I'm celebrating.) Suck on it rock. Suck on it country. Urban music runs these charts.

3) Eminem's "I Love the Way You Lie" is one of those sneaky #1s. Maybe it's just in L.A., but that song's not as pervasive as most number one hits. I don't think there's even a video? But people are obviously loving it. On a related note, he never talks about, but Marshall Mathers is a very, very rich man. He could buy Rick Ross twice over, at least.

4) And the good news keep on coming. Despite not having a truly hit single, and being a darkly serious and political album, The Roots "How I Got Over" debuted at number six on the charts. I hope these label execs are paying attention. "Teach Me How to Dougie" may get a lot of YouTube views, but the people are still only willing to pay money for quality music.

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..oh damn, this is fitting, Eminem's "Cinderella Man". Apparently the man's not completely unstoppable.