THE WAIT IS OVER DRAKE NUMBERS KEEP RAISING!!

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 6/20/2010

by Allen Jacobs

As many experts predicted, Drake is the latest Rap artist to achieve a #1 debut. The Young Money/Cash Money rapper's "official" first album, Thank Me Later edged out Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' latest by a margin of over 320,000 units. The Toronto born rapper's album was just over 50,000 short of a gold debut, as predicted by HitsDailyDouble.com. Thank Me Later features appearances by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, T.I. and Young Jeezy. The bulk of the album's production is handled by Drake's longtime producer Boi-1da, who may get back-to-back #1's, with next week's Eminem Recovery album.




Usher's Raymond v. Raymond fell one spot to #13. The veteran Pop entertainer's "divorce album" is marching its way to a platinum plaque for Mr. Raymond and his longtime backer, LaFace Records.
Spots #17 through #19 were taken by B.o.B., Plies and The Black Eyed Peas respectively. The Adventures of Bobby Ray will be officially over halfway to a gold plaque next week, while the year-old E.N.D. aims at possibly reaching triple platinum. Goon Affiliated pushes its way towards 100,000 sold for the Florida sensation.

* Please note: figures below approximated to nearest thousandth.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)

Rank	Artist	Album	This Week	Est. Total
1	Drake	Thank Me Later	447,000	447,000
13	Usher	Raymond v. Raymond	29,000	850,000
17	B.o.B. Presents	The Adventures of Bobby Ray	20,000	249,000
18	Plies	Goon Affiliated	20,000	76,000
19	Black Eyed Peas	The E.N.D.	19,000	2,609,000

Damian Marley & Nas' Distant Relatives slid to #37. The Universal Republic/Def Jam Records collaborative release has garnered huge critical acclaim in the Rap community for its rich commentary on the parallel relationship between Hip Hop and Reggae. Lil Wayne, K'Naan, Dennis Brown and Joss Stone appear on the work produced by Damian and brother Stephen. Meanwhile, Ludacris gained two notches with Battle of the Sexes.