Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 1/27/08

Hip Hop unfortunately still hasn't stirred from it's slump this week. Alicia Keys is knocked off of the throne by the Juno Soundtrack this week, but worry not-- with over 2.8M records sold, the R&B diva is well on her way to triple platinum. Mary J Blige takes the #4 spot selling a total of 1.08M, while Natasha Bedingfield's debut snagged 3rd place.

Chris Brown and Keyshia Cole stand strong with the #7 and #8 spots (respectively), but despite co-signs from the likes of Alicia Keys, Raheem Devaughn's Love Behind the Melody took a drop from #5 to #31 in its second week on the charts.

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

Rank	Artist	Album	This Week	Total
2	Alicia Keys	As I Am	59,746	2,846,200
4	Mary J Blige	Growing Pains	45,232	1,085,243
7	Chris Brown	Exclusive	31,597	1,182,627
8	Keyshia Cole	Just Like You	31,083	1,059,331
28	Jaheim	Makings of a Man	18,045	311,986

Chicago's golden boy Lupe Fiasco continues to have the #1 rap album in the country. The Cool sold just under 18k this week, bringing his total sales to 286k. Kanye West has recently announced Lupe will accompany him, Rihanna, and N.E.R.D on tour this summer. Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad, featuring last year's undisputed smash hit "Umbrella", has finally reached platinum this week (1.02M total). Kanye still inches closer towards double platinum with 1.96M sold for Graduation.

Other Notables

Rank	Artist	Album	This Week	Total
29	Lupe Fiasco	The Cool	17,928	286,211
37	Soulja Boy	Souljaboytellem.com	15,887	727,069
50	Kanye West	Graduation	12,368	1,958,201
51	Jay-Z	American Gangster	12,076	953,276
54	Birdman	5 Stunna	11,821	233,389

Big Noyd dropped last week, but didn't manage to make it onto the Rap charts. With Eve's latest effort pushed back yet again, watch next week as Crucial Conflict, QN5's Substantial, and Yak Ballz try to make waves. Next month, legend Pete Rock drops his highly anticipated New York's finest, along with new albums by Erykah Badu, Rick Ross, Akrobatik, and many more. Let's hope February treats Hip Hop better than January did.