Def Jam Recordings, via Associated Press Kanye West's “Yeezus.â€Kanye West's first solo album in almost three years, “Yeezus†(Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam), tops the Billboard album chart this week, leading a trio of popular new rap releases.
“Yeezus,†completed on deadline and released - in CD form, anyway - in a plain, clear plastic case, sold 327,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, becoming Mr. West's sixth No. 1 in a row. (About 43 percent of the sales were on CD; the rest were digital downloads.)
Close behind is J. Cole's “Born Sinner†(Roc Nation/Columbia). It opened at No. 2 with 297,000 sales - a much better showing than some in the music industry had predicted, while “Yeezus†was not quite as hot as expected; early projections collected by Billboard had suggested an opening of around 500,000 sales. The No. 3 album this week, “Watching Movies With the Sound Off†(Rostrum/Universal) by the Pittsburgh-born rapper Mac Miller, sold 102,000 copies.
Kelly Rowland, formerly of Destiny's Child, is No. 4 this week with 68,000 sales of her new album, “Talk a Good Game†(Republic). Last week's No. 1, Black Sabbath's “13†(Vertigo/Republic), fell four spots to No. 5 with 46,000 sales, and Daft Punk's “Random Access Memories†(Daft Life/Columbia), is No. 6 with just over 40,000 sales in its fifth week out.
Robin Thicke's song “ Blurred Lines†holds the No. 1 spot on Billboard's singles chart for a third week, with 424,000 downloads and 5.4 million streams on services like YouTube and Spotify.
