NEW YORK (Top 40 Charts) -
Jay-Z has debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 album sales chart with his latest effort, The Blueprint 2:
The Gift And The Curse. More than 545,000 copies of the album were sold, according to sources.
This is the fifth album by the hip-hop giant to debut at Number One, and his fifth consecutive solo studio release to earn the distinction. Only his first two albums - 1996's Reasonable Doubt and 1997's In My Lifetime, Vol. 1--and two releases from earlier this year - his MTV Unplugged live set and the R. Kelly collaboration, The Best Of Both Worlds--have debuted at less than Number One.
Jay-Z's showing also unseated last week's Number One, the Eminem-powered soundtrack to 8 Mile, pushing it to Number Two.The rapper's latest disc, "The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse," debuted at No. 1, selling about 545,000 copies during its first week in stores, according to industry figures released Wednesday.
A year ago, his album "The Blueprint" debuted at the top spot and stayed there for three weeks.
Jay-Z bumped the "8 Mile" soundtrack down to No. 2. The disc, which contains music from rapper Eminem's movie of the same name, sold another 400,000 copies for a total of 1.6 million.
Meanwhile, four other albums entered the chart in the Top 10 - at Number Three is:
- Missy Elliott's Under Construction (it sold nearly 259,000 copies)
- Pearl Jam's Riot Act debuts at Number Five (during its first week in stores, selling about 166,000 copies) - followed by TLC's 3d and
- at No8, 3 Doors Down's second effort, Away From The Sun.
Claiming the other spots are Justin Timberlake's Justified at Number Four, Eminem's The Eminem Show at Number Nine, and Santana's Shaman at Number 10.
Other debuts fairing well this week include:
- Elton John's Greatest Hits 1970-2002 (Number 12)
- the three-CD WWE Anthology, featuring theme songs of wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and the Rock (Number 13)
- Saliva's third album, Back Into Your System (No. 19)
- Sean Paul's "Dutty Rock" (VP/Atlantic) at No. 26
- O-Town's "O2" (J Records) at No. 28
- Phil Collins' "Testify" (Atlantic) at No. 30 and
- Fat Joe's "Loyalty" (Atlantic) at No. 31.
But perhaps its a disappointing return for rap-rockers Crazy Town, whose new album, Darkhorse, entered at Number 120. The Los Angeles group's second album is the follow-up to 1999's The Gift Of Game, which featured the Number One hit, "Butterfly."
