The Game’s fifth studio album, Jesus Piece, took the No. 6 spot on Billboard’s Top 200 album charts, selling 86,000 copies in a week. The Compton rapper was defeated by Taylor Swift who maintained her No. 1 spot with her Red album moving an additional 208,000 copies. The release went double platinum in a month.
In second place stands, Bruno Mars, whose sophomore effort, Unorthodox Jukebox, sold 192,000 copies, upwards of 40,000 units more than the label predicted. In comparison, Mars’ debut, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, sold 84,000 copies upon its release around the same time in 2010. Third, fourth, and fifth place went to the likes of Michael Buble, One Direction, and Rod Stewart.
Although Jesus Piece marked his latest Top 10 release, the chart position is a noticeable drop from first or second place, where all of his previous albums have debuted.
From the start, Game’s latest project was marred with controversy given the title and depiction of Jesus Christ as a gang member. He drove the church theme home by announcing a weekly Sunday Service where he leaked a new song off the album.“However you depict him [Jesus] in your own mind, or through your own visions, through your artwork, or through your religion, that’s on you,” Game told DJ Skee last week, of any impending backlash. “It’s not my place to hate on that.”
Next week will provide for even more competition for Game, leaving him vulnerable to another slide down the charts as T.I.’s Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head, and Chief Keef’s Finally Rich albums were both released this week.
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Photo: Geffen
