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Jay-Z Makes Like Elvis, Goes Gangster on Chart
11/14/2007 6:00 AM, E! Online
David Jenison
This American Gangster is fit for a King.
Jay-Z's latest album debuted on top of the pop charts, giving him 10 number ones in 10 years and tying him with Elvis Presley for the most chart toppers by a solo artist. The Jigga Man and Presley are behind only the Beatles, who have 19 number one albums.
American Gangster sold 425,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to the latest Nielsen numbers.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, first topped the charts in 1998 with Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, featuring the Annie-sampling title track hit.
"It's a true testament to Jay-Z's greatness to create this amazing conceptual body of work clearly not intended to be measured by commercial standards," said Antonio "L.A." Reid, the chairman of Island Def Jam. "Yet he still achieves this monumental and historic accomplishment."
Though sales for American Gangster are notably smaller than Kingdom Come's 680,000-copy first week last year, Jay-Z's latest was assembled at record speed. Denzel Washington hoped to have Jay compile the soundtrack to the American Gangster film, but instead the rapper created a companion piece that interweaves his own personal narrative as a street hustler with that the film's central character, '70s Harlem dealer Frank Lucas. Jay-Z quickly recorded the concept album after seeing the film in August.
American Gangster leads at radio with the Neptunes-produced "Blue Magic," named after the type of heroin Lucas distributed. Jay-Z once again reunites with former archnemesis Nas for "Success," while fellow rap mogul Diddy produced six songs, having previously worked with Jay on 1997's In My Lifetime, Vol. 1.
The actual American Gangster soundtrack opened at number 36 with 21,000 copies. The soundtrack primarily consists of period music by artists like the Staple Singers and John Lee Hooker, although Anthony Hamilton did contribute a new track, the Diane Warren-penned "Do You Feel Me."
Meanwhile, fans continued to mob Wal-Mart stores to give the Eagles an impressive second-week showing. Though it couldn't hold the top spot, Long Road Out of Eden fell just one spot to number two on 359,000 copies. To put this figure in perspective, the Eagles sold more second-week copies than the number one album did in 33 of 45 charts this year.
While the Eagles had a solid second week, Britney Spears' Blackout experienced a 70 percent sales slide. The disc fell to number seven on just 87,000 copies.
In what was a busy week, there were five new albums in the Top 10. Garth Brooks' The Ultimate Hits led the runners-up at number three, selling 352,000 copies. The 34-song collection features four new tracks, including the lead single "More Than a Memory," which recently made history as the first song to debut at number one on the country radio chart.
Young R&B sensation Chris Brown followed with a number four finish for Exclusive, selling more than 294,000 copies. Two years ago, Brown topped the Hot 100 with his breakout hit, "Run It!" and recently returned to the top spot with Exclusive's "Kiss Kiss." The 18-year-old had intended to call his new album Graduation before Kanye West beat him to the punch. (Kanye made up for it, though, by appearing on the Exclusive track "Down").
I-Empire, the second album by Blink-182 alumn Tom DeLonge's Angels & Airwaves, sold 66,000 copies for a number nine bow. The group's debut disc, We Don't Need to Whisper, fared slightly better with a number four bow last year.
Philly rapper Cassidy, who opened in the Top 5 with his first two albums, checked in at number 10 with his third release, B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story, selling 63,000 copies. B.A.R.S. is Cassidy's first album since a near-fatal car accident last year.
While not technically a new album, Taylor Swift's self-titled bow jumped 18 spots to number eight as the deluxe edition debuted wtih nearly 68,000 copies. Taylor also benefited from winning the Horizon trophy at last week's CMA Awards. To date, the country music teen has sold more than 1.5 million copies since the original debuted in October of last year.
Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride and Josh Groban's Noël rounded out the Top 10 at five and six, respectively.
Latin reggaeton duo Wisin Y Yandel sold nearly 53,000 copies of Wisin Vs Yandel: Los Extraterrestres coming in at 14. Country act Little Big Town followed at number 24 with A Place to Land, which registered 35,000.
The week's other notable debuts included the Starbucks' holiday comp, Stockings by the Fire at 43, Van Morrison's Still On Top–The Greatest Hits at 48, Jimmy Buffett's Live in Anguilla at 54, Sigur Ros' Hvarf/Heim at 58, Demon Hunter's Storm the Gates of Hell at 85 and Nas' Greatest Hits at 124.
Meanwhile, on the singles chart, the High School Musical 2 single "What Time Is It" saw its four-month number one run come to an end. The Heartbeat Boys' "Christmas Oh Christmas" sold 4,000 copies to take the top spot, dropping "What Time Is It" to number two on 2,000 copies. To date, the HSM2 track has moved 332,000 copies.
With the holidays fast approaching, album sales were up nearly 8 percent compared to last week, though still down nearly 17 percent compared to the same period last year.
Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:
1. American Gangster, Jay-Z
2. Long Road Out of Eden, the Eagles
3. The Ultimate Hits, Garth Brooks
4. Exclusive, Chris Brown
5. Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood
6. Noël, Josh Groban
7. Blackout, Britney Spears
8. Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift
9. I-Empire, Angels & Airwaves
10. B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story, Cassidy
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