Editorial: This Week’s Rap Album Sales Numbers Are In [8.26.2015]

Of course, albums sales do not prove which artists are making the highest quality of music, but they do provide a barometer on which stars are connecting with the mainstream audience the best. Billboard tallied the top ten first week debuts in the genre so far this year, and a handful of rap LPs have opened with big numbers out the gate.

Drake leads the pack. The OVO leader’s surprise project ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’ broke out with 495,000 copies sold. He is also the only act to sell over one million copies of a new release in 2015.

Drizzy was followed by two West Coast performers – Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly (324,000)’ & Dr. Dre’s ‘Compton (276,000)’. The rest of the top 5 includes Roc Nation management representatives Meek Mill (‘Dreams Worth More Than Money, 215,000’) & Big Sean (‘Dark Sky Paradise, 139,000’).

Seven of the ten albums sold enough units in its opening week to land at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Dre, Ludacris, & Boosie Badazz fell short of the top spot.

Check out the Top 10 rap debut sales week in 2015 so far below…

  1. Drake – ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late‘ (495,000)
  2. Kendrick Lamar – ‘To Pimp A Butterfly‘ (324,000)
  3. Dr. Dre – ‘Compton‘ (276,000)
  4. Meek Mill – ‘Dreams Worth More Than Money‘ (215,000)
  5. Big Sean – ‘Dark Sky Paradise‘ (139,000)
  6. Future – ‘DS2‘ (126,000)
  7. A$AP Rocky – ‘At.Long.Last.A$AP‘ (117,000)
  8. Wale – ‘The Album About Nothing‘ (88,000)
  9. Ludacris – ‘Ludaversal‘ (62,000)
  10. Boosie Badazz – ‘Touch Down To Cause Hell‘ (59,000)