S. Samuel
Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV dismantled its music sales competition this week moving nearly a million copies.
Despite the close encounter, Weezy’s new LP still managed to crush its competition.
Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV debuted on the chart this week at No. 1. According to Nielsen SoundScan, Weezy’s long-awaited new album has sold 965,300 copies after just a week of availability. Rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ I’m With You debuted at No. 2 with 229,600 sold copies. (SOHH Sales Wrap)
Last week sales projections saw the album selling up to 900,000 units.
The prolific hip-hop superstar’s eagerly awaited Cash Money/Universal Republic album, Tha Carter IV, hit retail last Monday and is on target for sales of 870-900k in its first week. Based on first-day sales from those retailers not selling corn dogs to Tea Party candidate Michele Bachmann, the album will easily debut at #1 on next week’s HITS chart. The rapper’s last installment in the series, Tha Carter III, sold 1.005m on release in June, 2008. (HITS Daily Double)
A few days ago, Young Money president Mack Maine weighed in on the sales hype.
“[Wayne] actually told us if he don’t do those same numbers again as C3 don’t be mad,” Mack admitted. “I said this before — I told Nicki [Minaj] — she was kinda nervous about her first-week sales — I said, ‘First week sales don’t matter.’ I’d rather my final sales matter. I know albums from Juvenile 400 Degreez to [Justin] Beiber‘s first album sold 20, or 30,000 the first-week and went onto sell 2 million one album then 6 million on another album. I saw [Lady] Gaga did the 99 cent thing [and] then [her] second-week it did like 175,000. Congratulation as it relates to her. With Wayne, I don’t want him to sell a million the first-week, [and] then drop to 100,000 the next week then 50,00 the following week. I’d rather sell ten times platinum total.” (XXL Mag)
Cash Money Records co-owner Birdman recently said two million copies were shipped in preparation for Wayne’s first week.
Cash Money delivered Carter IV to Universal about 10 days in advance, which Williams says was necessary to press the two million units being shipped in its first week. “The goal is to sell a million-plus copies,” he explains. Although that’s likely what led to Carter IV breaking free, Williams says he’s actually OK with leaks, to a point. “I can deal with it for short period of time,” he says. It’s when you have a leak out for a long time that it’s crazy.” (Rolling Stone)
Check out some recent Lil Wayne footage below:
