Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 10/18/2009

Jay-Z [click to read] climbed three spaces with Blueprint 3 [click to read], as his "Empire State Of Mind" takes on radio as his third album single. Jay joins Eminem and The Black Eyed Peas [click to read] as the lone three platinum 2009 Rap albums. The trio is within 300,000 units of each other, making for an interesting finish by year end.

Speaking of, the Peas [click to read] refuse to quit. The E.N.D. [click to read] climbed an astonishing 17 spots in the last week, after being out for over three months. The California veterans are striking new chords with their latest single "Meet Me Halfway."

R&B occupied the rest of the top urban chart placements. Mario [click to read] debuted this week, with D.N.A. The singer's fourth album serves as a premier to G.O.O.D. Music family nephew Big Sean on the song "Before She Said Hi." Mariah Carey's latest, Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel [click to read] remained in the Top 10, clearing the 250,000 mark. This effort gained street support with help from Gucci Mane [click to read] on "Obsessed (Remix)." Whitney Houston slipped two spots from last week with I Look To You, one of the biggest comeback albums of 2009. The effort still stands a chance of reaching platinum by year's end.

* please note: figures below approximated to nearest thousandeth.

Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)

Rank	Artist	Album	This Week	Est. Total
3	Jay-Z	Blueprint 3	55,000	1,116,000
6	Black Eyed Peas	The E.N.D.	40,000	1,235,000
9	Mario	D.N.A.	32,000	32,000
10	Mariah Carey	Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel	31,000	254,000
15	Whitney Houston	I Look To You	24,000	731,000

The charts were quite bottom-heavy last week too. Fat Joe's [click to read] J.O.S.E. 2 [click to read] took a dive on the charts. The latest from the once plaque-guaranteed star fell 103 places from its already dismal debut week. The album fell just ahead of T.I.'s [click to read] Paper Trail [click to read], an acclaimed Rap album released over a year ago, returning to the charts for the first time in several weeks.

Ghostface Killah [click to read] dropped 36 places with Ghostdini: The Wizard Of Poetry In The Emerald City [click to read]. Ghost is already in talks with Raekwon [click to read] and Method Man about a trio album, that RZA [click to read] officially wants to be involved with.

Snoop Dogg [click to read] debuted in the Top 150, with his shelved recordings between 1992 and 1998, during his tenure at the controversial Death Row Records imprint. Lost Sessions Volume 1 [click to read] features vintage Dr. Dre production, as well as appearances from Lady Of Rage [click to read], Nate Dogg and a much younger Dogg Pound [click to read].

Based off of the super-collab hit from Drake, "Forever," [click to listen] the Music Inspired By More Than A Game is one of the bigger Rap soundtracks of the last two years. The Interscope release boasts tracks from Jay-Z, Rich Boy [click to read], T.I. and Black Wall Street artist Ya Boy.

Rank	Artist	Album	This Week	Est. Total
118	Ghostface Killah	Ghostdini: The Wizard Of Poetry In The Emerald City	4,600	31,000
129	Snoop Doggy Dogg	Death Row: The Lost Sessions Volume 1	4,400	4,400
149	More Than A Game	Original Soundtrack	3,600	15,000
176	Fat Joe	Jealous Ones Still Envy 2	2,900	11,000
177	T.I.	Paper Trail	2,900	2,023,000