This week we saw debuts from both Tyler, The Creator, and Young Thug. Neither artist is known to play on mainstream radio (though Thug gets a fair share of rap radio play), but each has a pretty supportive fanbase. Tyler managed to crack the top five, despite the experimental leanings of Cherry Bomb, while Thug remained locked out of the top 20, which can be partially attributed to his decision to drop the album on a Friday instead of a Tuesday.
Check out this week's rap rankings below.
1) Various Artists— Furious 7: While Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" remains atop the Hot 100, the soundtrack which it appears on falls to number 2 this week, unseated by Shawn Mendes' debut. The OST moved 78,935 copies, (with 26,506 sold excluding streams), and has accumulated a total of 126,642 sales overall.
2) Tyler, the Creator—Cherry Bomb: Tyler had the highest rap debut this week, with his third retail album earning 58,267 in sales (50,664 excluding streams), and coming in at number 4 on the Billboard 200.
3) Drake—If You're Reading This It's Too Late: Drake surpasses Kendrick for the first time since TPAB's release this week. Moving from 8 to 10 with 35,447 sold (12,496 excluding streams), Drizzy's full tally is at 835,155. We should see this number grow substantially with the release of the collector's edition of the mixtape happening next week.
4) Kendrick Lamar—To Pimp A Butterfly: K-Dot falls out of the top ten, moving 27,800 copies of TPAB (19,063 excluding streams), for a total of 532,279 sales. He sits at 14 this week.
5) Empire—Season 1 OST: Following with the trend of rap releases this week, the Empire OST fell a few spots from 12 to 15. It accumulated 23,685 in sales (17,794 excluding streams), and has moved 319,283 in total.
6) Nicki Minaj—The Pinkprint: Nicki falls from 16 to 19 this week, with a tally of 21,124, almost entirely in streams (her traditional sales total being 5,659). The Pinkprint's total sales are currently at 597,597
7) Wale—The Album About Nothing: Wale falls another ten spots this week, after falling from number 1 to 11 in the last cycle. He's now sitting at number 21 with 20,357 sold (14,718 excluding streams). He's sold 128,398 over the last three weeks.
8) Big Sean—Dark Sky Paradise: Big Sean falls a couple spots to 22 this week, selling 19,895 copies of DSP (7,424 excluding streams).
