[Discussion] Top Hip-Hop First Week Album Sales of the Decade
Before anyone asks, this is solely hip-hop albums, no R&B or hip-hop adjacent albums. Including these albums makes things very difficult to track accurately on a list that goes this far back.
Year| Artist| Album| Sales | ---|---|----|----|---- 2010| Eminem| Recovery| 741K | Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (496K) 2011| Lil Wayne| Tha Carter IV| 964K | Drake - Take Care (631K) 2012| Nicki Minaj| Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded| 253K | Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (242K) 2013| Eminem| The Marshall Mathers LP 2| 792K|Drake - Nothing Was the Same (658K) 2014| J. Cole| 2014 Forest Hills Drive| 375K | Nicki Minaj - The Pinkprint (244K) 2015| Drake| If You're Reading This It's Too Late | 535K | Drake & Future - What A Time To Be Alive (375K) 2016| Drake| Views | 1.075M | J. Cole - 4 Your Eyez Only (492K) 2017| Kendrick Lamar| DAMN.| 610K | Drake - More Life (505K) 2018| Drake| Scorpion| 749K | Post Malone - beerbongs & bentleys (471K) 2019 | Kanye West | JESUS IS KING | 276K
#Charts By Year
2010 - The rise of Drake and Nicki
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Eminem | Recovery | 741K |
| Kanye West | My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy | 496K |
| Drake | Thank Me Later | 447K |
| Nicki Minaj | Pink Friday | 395K |
| Lil Wayne | Rebirth | 176K |
| Rick Ross | Teflon Don | 176K |
2011 - Weezy back on top and the rise of J. Cole
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Lil Wayne | Tha Carter IV | 964K |
| Drake | Take Care | 631K |
| Jay-Z & Kanye West | Watch the Throne | 436K |
| Young Jeezy | Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition | 233K |
| J. Cole | Cole World: The Sideline Story | 217K |
2012 - The rise of King Kendrick
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Nicki Minaj | Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded | 253K |
| Kendrick Lamar | Good Kid, M.A.A.D City | 242K |
| Rick Ross | God Forgives, I Don't | 218K |
| GOOD Music | Cruel Summer | 205K |
| T.I. | Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head | 179K |
Meek Mill's "Dreams & Nightmares" debuts with 165K.
2013 - Eminem is still sales king
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Eminem | The Marshall Mathers LP 2 | 792K |
| Drake | Nothing Was the Same | 658K |
| Jay-Z | Magna Carta Holy Grail | 527K |
| Kanye West | Yeezus | 328K |
| J. Cole | Born Sinner | 298K |
Drake's "Nothing Was The Same" became the most pirated album of all time. A$AP Rocky's "Long. Live. ASAP" debuts with 139K.
2014 - The rise of streaming
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| J. Cole | 2014 Forest Hills Drive | 375K |
| Nicki Minaj | The Pinkprint | 244K |
| Rick Ross | Mastermind | 179K |
| ScHoolboy Q | Oxymoron | 139K |
| Shady Records | Shady XV | 138K |
In 2014 Billboard began to take streaming into account for first week sales and total album sales.
2015 - Back to Back
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Drake | If You're Reading This It's Too Late | 535K |
| Drake & Future | What a Time to Be Alive | 375K |
| Kendrick Lamar | To Pimp a Butterfly | 363K |
| Dr. Dre | Compton | 295K |
| Meek Mill | Dreams Worth More Than Money | 245K |
2016 - Views from the top
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Drake | Views | 1.075M |
| J. Cole | 4 Your Eyez Only | 511K |
| Kendrick Lamar | untitled unmastered | 182K |
| Future | Evol | 139K |
| A Tribe Called Quest | We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service | 136K |
Drake becomes the first artist to do a million in a week since Lil Wayne in 2008. "The Life Of Pablo" marks the first time in his career that a Kanye album does not have a top five debut week.
2017 - Kendrick is king
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Kendrick Lamar | DAMN. | 610K |
| Drake | More Life | 505K |
| Eminem | Revival | 265K |
| Logic | Everybody | 251K |
| Big Sean | I Decided | 156K |
Eminem's "Revival" had his worst first week since "The Slim Shady LP" in 1999. Due to Tidal not reporting streaming numbers, Jay-Z's "4:44" is his first album since "In My Lifetime, Vol. 1" from 1997 not to have a top five debut week.
2018 - Drake cements himself as number one, Weezy is free, and the rise of Travis Scott
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Drake | Scorpion | 749K |
| Travis Scott | Astroworld | 553K |
| Lil Wayne | Tha Carter V | 480K |
| Eminem | Kamikaze | 434K |
| J. Cole | KOD | 395K |
2019 - Jesus Is King is king
| Artist | Album | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Kanye West | JESUS IS KING | 276K |
| Juice WRLD | Death Race For Love | 164K |
| JACKBOYS | JACKBOYS | 154K |
| DaBaby | KIRK | 146K |
| DJ Khaled | Father Of Asahd | 132K |
#Top First Weeks of the Decade
| Artist| Title| Year| First Week Sales
---|---|----|----|---- 1|Drake|VIEWS|2016|1,075M 2|Lil Wayne|Tha Carter IV|2011|964K 3|Eminem|The Marshall Mathers LP 2|2013|793K 4|Drake|Scorpion|2018|749K 5|Eminem|Recovery|2010|741K 6|Drake|Nothing Was The Same|2013|658K 7|Drake|Take Care|2011|631K 8|Kendrick Lamar|DAMN.|2017|610K 9|Travis Scott|ASTROWORLD|2018|553K 10|Drake|If You're Reading This It's Too Late|2015|535K 11|JAY-Z|Magna Carta Holy Grail|2013|527K 12|J. Cole|4 Your Eyez Only|2016|511K 13|Drake|More Life|2017|505K 14|Kanye West|My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy|2010|496K 15|Lil Wayne|Tha Carter V|2018|480K 16|Drake|Thank Me Later|2010|447K 17|JAY-Z & Kanye West|Watch The Throne|2011|436K 18|Eminem|Kamikaze|2018|434K 19|J. Cole|KOD|2018|395K 20|Nicki Minaj|Pink Friday|2010|375K 21|J. Cole|2014 Forest Hills Drive|2014|375K 22|Drake & Future|What a Time to Be Alive|2015|375K 23|Kendrick Lamar| To Pimp a Butterfly|2015|363K 24|Kanye West|Yeezus|2013|328K 25|J. Cole|Born Sinner|2013|298K 26|Dr. Dre|Compton|2015|295K 27|Eminem|Revival|2017|267K 28|Kanye West|JESUS IS KING|2019|264K 29|Cardi B|Invasion of Privacy|2018|264K 30|Nicki Minaj|Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded|2012|253K 31|Logic|Everybody|2017|251K 32|Meek Mill|Dreams Worth More Than Money|2015|245K 33|Nicki Minaj|The Pinkprint|2014|244K 34|Kendrick Lamar|good kid, m.A.A.d. city|2012|242K 35|Young Jeezy|Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition|2011|233K 36|Meek Mill|Championships|2018|229K 37|Rick Ross|God Forgives, I Don't|2012|218K 38|J. Cole|Cole World: The Sideline Story|2011|217K 39|Lil Wayne|I Am Not a Human Being II|2013|217K 40|Kanye West|Ye|2018|210K 41|GOOD Music|Cruel Summer|2012|205K 42|Lupe Fiasco|Lasers|2011|204K 43|Migos|Culture II|2017|200K 44|Wiz Khalifa|Rolling Papers|2011|197K 45|Various Artists|The Hamilton Mixtape|2016|190K 46|Nicki Minaj|Queen|2018|190K 47|Kendrick Lamar|untitled unmastered|2016|182K 48|T.I.|Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head|2012|179K 49|Rick Ross|Mastermind|2014|179K 50|Lil Wayne|Rebirth|2010|176K 51|Rick Ross|Teflon Don|2010|176K 52|Big Sean|Dark Sky Paradise|2015|173K 53|Bad Meets Evil|Hell: The Sequel|2011|171K 54|Kid Cudi|Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager|2010|169K 55|Logic|YSIV|2018|167K 56|Meek Mill|Dreams & Nightmares|2012|165K 57|Wale|Ambition|2011|164K 58|Juice WRLD|Death Race For Love|2019|164K 59|T.I.|No Mercy|2010|159K 60|Wale|The Gifted|2013|158K 61|Big Sean|I Decided|2017|156K 62|Various Artists|Black Panther|2018|156K 63|JACKBOYS|JACKBOYS|2019|142K 64|Future|DS2|2015|151K 65|DJ Khaled|Grateful|2017|151K 66|Nas|Life Is Good|2012|149K 67|2 Chainz|Based on a T.R.U. Story|2012|147K 68|A$AP Rocky|At.Long.Last.A$AP|2015|146K 69|DaBaby|KIRK|2019|146K 70|Mac Miller|Blue Slide Park|2011|144K 71|Wiz Khalifa|O.N.I.F.C.|2012|141K 72|KIDS SEE GHOSTS|Kids See Ghosts|2018|140K 73|A$AP Rocky|Long.Live.ASAP|2013|139K 74|Kid Cudi|Indicud|2013|139K 75|ScHoolboy Q|Oxymoron|2014|139K 76|Future|Evol|2016|139K 77|Future|FUTURE|2017|139K 78|Shady Records|Shady XV|2014|138K 79|Ludacris|Battle of the Sexes|2010|137K 80|A Tribe Called Quest|We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service|2016|136K 81|Logic|The Incredible True Story|2015|135K 82|Gorillaz|Humanz|2017|135K 83|XXXTENTACION|?|2018|134K 84|DJ Khaled|Father Of Asahd|2019|132K 85|G-Eazy|When It's Dark Out|2015|132K 86|XXXTENTACION|Skins|2018|132K 87|21 Savage|I am > I was|2018|131K 88|Young Thug|So Much Fun|2019|131K 89|Lil Baby & Gunna|Drip Harder|2018|130K 90|NF|The Search|2019|130K 91|Fetty Wap|Fetty Wap|2015|129K 92|Beastie Boys|Hot Sauce Committee Part Two|2011|128K 93|Lil Uzi Vert|Luv Is Rage 2|2017|126K 94|Lil Wayne|I Am Not a Human Being|2010|125K 95|Future|Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD|2019|125K 96|JAY-Z & Beyonce|Everything Is Love|2018|124K 97|G-Eazy|The Beautiful & Damned|2017|122K 98|Young Jeezy|Seen It All: The Autobiography|2014|121K 99|Migos|Culture|2016|121K 100|Future|HNDRXX|2017|117K 101|Logic|Bobby Tarantino II|2018|117K 102|Dreamville|Revenge of the Dreamers III|2019|115K 103|Kevin Gates|Islah|2016|112K 104|Drake|Care Package|2019|110K 105|Chance The Rapper|The Big Day|2019|108K 106|Tyler, The Creator|Flower Boy|2017|106K 107|2 Chainz|Pretty Girls Like Trap Music|2017|106K 108|BROCKHAMPTON|iridescence|2018|106K 109|Trippie Redd|A Love Letter To You 4|2019|103K 110|Mac Miller|Watching Movies with the Sound Off|2013|102K 111|Meek Mill|Wins & Losses|2017|102K 112|Roddy Ricch|Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial|2019|101K 113|Wale|The Album About Nothing|2015|100K 114|Rick Ross|Rather You Than Me|2017|100K
Posted Jan 4, 2020, 6:31 PM UTC · edited