Lecrae is on the way to becoming a household name, which is a feat for a rapper, let alone a Christian rapper. The rapper made an impressive debut this past week, with Anomaly topping the Billboard 200 and selling just under 100k, with 88,000. While the sales projections indicated it'd be a close race between Jhene Aiko and Lecrae, Lecrae came out the clear winner. Jhene made a solid debut nonetheless, with her Souled Out album (which contained limited features, something which may have attracted more sales if she had so desired) moving 70,000 units opening week. Compare this to the debut numbers of her Sail Out EP, which did 34,000 opening week, and she's definitely made a leap. Keep in mind, Sail Out is still charting on the Billboard 200 to this day, with total sales of around 270,000-- and so even if Souled Out is off to a slow start, it's likely Jhene will maintain in the long run. In terms of Lecrae, the rapper initially started seeing a spurt in his sales when he dropped Gravity, which moved 72,000 opening week in 2012, debuting at #3. At the time, this was an all-time high for Lecrae. He's outdone himself once more with Anomaly, and we can probably expect the trend to continue in the future, as he fanbase widens with each release.
1) Lecrae—Anomaly: Lecrae earned himself a #1 album with his latest release, Anomaly, which simultaneously topped the Gospel Album, Rap Album and several other Billboard charts. The rapper was undoubtedly pleased with himself, releasing a free track earlier this week to celebrate. Lecrae sold 88,000 units opening week.
2) Jhene Aiko— Souled Out: Jhene Aiko follows behind Lecrae. The singer ended up debuting at #3, after Maroon 5 kept the #2 spot on lock. Souled Out managed to sell 70,000 copies opening week. How will it hold up in the long term?
3) Jeezy— Seen It All: Jeezy’s new album falls this week from its debut at #2 last week. Seen It All comes in at #6 after moving another 33,074 units. Total sales are up to 154,539.
4) Rittz— Next To Nothing: Strange Music rapper Rittz made his debut on the Billboard 200, with Next To Nothing moving an impressive 22,000 units, and coming in at #14. Not too bad for a strictly-underground MC.
5) Iggy Azalea—The New Classic: While the sex tape scandal/drama continues, Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic sits still at #18. The album’s been charting for 21 weeks, and has kept a spot within the top 20 for a while now. This week she sold 17,027, with total sales of 351,549.
6) Wiz Khalifa— Blacc Hollywood: Wiz’s new album drops below Iggy this week, after sitting at #10 last week he’s fallen down to #23. The album sold 11,934 copies this week, bringing Blacc Hollywood total sales to 152,154.
7) Eminem—The Marshall Mathers LP 2: Eminem rises back up this week, with MMLP2 soaring to #30. After charting for 45 weeks, the rapper sold yet another 8,327 copies. His total sales are 2,203,601.
8) Trey Songz— Trigga: Trey Songz continues his descent, slowly but surely. This week Trigga makes a slight drop from #41 to #45. The album moved 6,304 copies, while total sales reached 242,593.
9) Beyonce— Beyonce: After seeing a drastic rise up the charts, and coincidentally, rise in sales, Beyonce’s self-titled album has fallen back down to #55. The singer sold 5,212 units this week, with total sales of 2,067,826.
10) Pharrell— G I R L: Pharrell sees a 11-spot drop this week, after sitting at #64 last week he comes in at #75. His women-dedicated opus has been charting for 28 weeks, and managed to move 3,766 more copies this week. The total sales have surpassed the 500k mark, with 519,521.
August Alsina's Testimony was sitting comfortably at #52 last week, but he's since dropped down to #85. Childish Gambino's Because The Internet has also remained consistent on the charts, this week dropping to #86, after charting for 40 weeks. Further below Gambino we find Drake's Nothing Was The Same make a steep drop from #57 to #90, after charting for 51 weeks. Interestingly enough, Jhene Aiko's Sail Out EP rose up from #176 to #110 this week.
