Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 7/14/2013

As planned Jay-Z’s first week at traditional retail with Magna Carta Holy Grail yielded the Brooklyn, New York emcee’s 13th #1 album. He is still behind The Beatles’ all-time record of 19, but comfortably ahead of Elvis Presley, who Jay surpassed with The Blueprint III back in 2009.

Released on his own Roc Nation label, Jay and his artist J. Cole owned two of the top three spots on this week’s charts. Cole’s Born Sinner had the top spot last week, for the back-to-back tandem.

Ciara took the other spot with her self-titled fifth album. Her first LP since joining Epic Records, home to her boyfriend Future, Ciara returned to the top three after a dismal #44 debut in 2010 with Basic Instinct. The Atlanta, Georgia-based singer’s latest features B.o.B., Nicki Minaj, and of course Future.

The other key debut came from New York Hip Hop veteran Tony Touch. The deejay and producer’s third LP in the Piece Maker series scored a Top 200 debut. The Sony Red-backed album featured appearances from Eminem, Erick Sermon, Kool G Rap, and The Beatnuts & Alkaholiks’ hybrid LikNuts.

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Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail Goes To #1

With Jay-Z already receiving platinum plaques last week for his million-plus sold album, the Brooklyn icon went gold by the charts’ standards in his first week at retail. The legendary emcee’s sneak-attack album sold approximately 527,000 copies in its second week available to the masses, and first to those without his Samsung app.

The #NewRules roll-out actually surpassed the first week sales of Jay’s last solo album, 2009’s Blueprint III, which garnered 476,000 overall. Off the charts, the LP also broke two Spotify records this month to boot.

M.C.H.G. includes production by The-Dream, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, with Justin Timberlake also featured. In his interview with BBC Radio One, Jay-Z confirmed that the album will soon come to vinyl, with additional tracks.

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Tony Touch Still Knows How To Assemble 50 MC’s

Another Brooklyn vet did well on the charts this week. Thirteen years since his first Piece Maker, Tony Touch released the third volume in the series with Piece Maker 3 (Return Of The 50 MC’s). Calling back to his popular 1990s mixtape series featuring many freestyles, Touch enlisted a number of Hip Hop vets including A.G., Masta Ace, Thirstin Howl III, Xzibit, Too Short, Royce Da 5’9, Raekwon, and KRS-One, among many others.

The Sony-backed LP which features Eminem’s “Symphony In H” sold approximately 2,400 units. Now a prominent Shady 45 host, the onetime Sunz Of Man and RZA producer was previously signed to Tommy Boy Records, EMI Records, and Ultra Records.