Two thousand and eleven was a good year for hip hop, having seen a surge of album releases from some talented young guns as well as few timers too. In both the local and international circles these albums, whether legendary or complete flop, made for an interesting musical atmosphere and even more interesting insight into the status of the business of music in these times. And since we haven’t developed system to monitor record sales in our good ol’ country yet, we at HYPE have decided to bring you the figures of the international albums that shook the industry a little. In the words of the Jigga man himself: “Men lie, women lie; numbers don’t.” Enjoy
The Carter 4 – Lil Wayne
Release date: 29 August 2011
First week sales – 964 000
Current status: Double Platinum
Take Care – Drake
Release Date: 15 November 2011
First week sales – 631 500
Current status (as of December 2011): Platinum
Watch the Throne – Jay-Z and Kanye West
Release date: 8 August 2011
First week sales – 436 000
Current status (as of December 2011): Platinum
Cole World: Sideline Story – J Cole
Release Date: 27 September 2011
First week sales- 218 000
Current status (As of December): 485 000
Rolling Papers – Wiz Khalifa
Release date: 29 March 2011
First week sales (As of November 2011) – 197 000
Current status (As of November 2011): 606 000 (Gold)
Bad Meets Evil – Eminem and Royce 5-9
Release date: 13 June 2011
First week sales – 171 000
Current status (As of December 2011): 641 000
Ambition – Wale
Release date: 1 November 2011
First week sales – 164 000
Current status (As of December 2011): 293 000
Finally Famous – Big Sean
Release date: 28 June 2011
First week sales – 87 000
Current status (as of December 2011): 248 000
