Lil Wayne is going to have to settle for second place. The YMCMB rapper’s latest LP, I Am Not A Human Being II, sold about 217,000 units its first week, which will land it at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Who is number one? Justin Timberlake.
Those are career defining numbers for most any other artist, but just “okay” for Weezy. His last album, 2011’s The Carter IV, sold 964,000 copies its first week while Tha Carter III (2008) pushed a over million units its first week in stores, too. But, 2010’s I Am Not A Human Being album, released while he was incarcerated in New York City’s Rikers Island, pushed a more mortal 110,000 (digital only) its first week out, good enough for No. 1. However, it then hit No. 1 when the physical CD dropped, moving and additional 125,000 units.
Justin Timberlake’s new album, The 20/20 Experience, was the number one selling album in the U.S. this week, pushing another 317,000 copies. After first week sales of almost 981,000 copies last week, the “Suit & Tie” crooner is way past platinum and will probably be double platinum by the summer.
The run up to the release of his album for Weezy was tumultuous, to say the least. About a week before it dropped he was in the intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles. Although reports said the rapper had suffered on overdose on “lean,” he maintains it strictly seizures that landed him in the hospital. Tunechi recently revealed that he suffers from epilepsy, which he maintains is the cause of his seizures.
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Photo: GQ
