Hip Hop Album Sales: Eminem, Rick Ross, Beyonce

by JAY BALFOUR

New albums from Shady Records and Rick Ross coincide with the first week of Billboard's new sales measurement system.

This week’s sales report is the first to accommodate Billboard’s new measurement system in which the charts account for not only the number of albums sold, but also the number of singles sold as well as the number of times an album is streamed. The new “total activity” measurement counts 1,500 streams as the sale of a single album and also adopts a “track-equivalent album” consideration which counts the sale of 10 singles as an album sale.

The new format and a couple new Hip Hop releases shook up the Billboard Top 200 withEminem’s Shady XV compilation album debuting at #3. Rick Ross’ Hood Billionaire, the rapper’s second album in less than a year, debuted at #6 with just under 75,000 total albums sold. T.I.,Chris Brown, and Pharrell Williams all jumped up the list thanks to the new ranking system while both Beyonce and Iggy Azalea have albums and their respective rereleases in the Top 10 Hip Hop/R&B albums of the week.

Eminem & Shady Records Debut At #3

With a total of 137,560 albums sold and a stream activity count of 2,804,463 as of Sunday (November 30), Eminem’s Shady XV arrived as the #3 album in the country with a total activity count of 148,297. (The album had a separate song sales number of 88,686, which also contributes to the latest total activity report.)

The sales numbers place the compilation album firmly within the projected first sales of 140,000 to 150,000 and come just after news that Shady XV quickly became the #1 iTunes album, a fact Crooked I recently celebrated with a new freestyle.

Rick Ross At #6 With Hood Billionaire

Rick Ross’ latest album came in at #6 after its first week on the shelves, selling a total of 74,444 albums for a total activity count of 79,264 when its more than two million streams and nearly 34,000 song sales are accounted for.

Beyonce Charts Twice At #8 & #39

Both Beyonce and Iggy Azalea have newly reissued albums on the charts this week with the original version of either album also included in the Top 10. Beyonce’s Platinum Edition sold a total of 42,959 albums but its more than five million streams and 246,187 song sales brought its total activity count to just over 71,000.

Lower down the list, the original Beyonce release jumped from being nearly off the chart entirely at #199 to #38 in the span of a single week with sales apparently boosted by the new reissue.

Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 11/30/2014

Note: The figures below represent this week’s “total activity,” an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams. A pure album sales figure is available in parenthesis and information about each album's streaming count is available in brackets.

#3. Eminem - Shady XV - 148,297 (137,560) [2,804,463]

#6. Rick Ross - Hood Billionaire - 79,264 (74,444) [2,132,906]

#8. Beyonce - Beyonce [Platinum Edition] - 71,008 (42,959) [5,146,703]

#18. Pitbull - Globalization - 48,692 (38,177) [2,219,875]

#27. Iggy Azalea - Reclassified - 33,638 (13,813) [5,719,358]

#39. Beyonce - Beyonce - 24,922 (21,904) [2,058,952]

#44. T.I. - Paperwork - 21,795 (17,050) [2,930,935]

#48. Chris Brown - X - 20,469 (13,5883) [4,525,609]

#67. Pharrell Williams - G I R L - 14,807 (11,328) [1,179,857]

#70. Iggy Azalea - New Classic - 14,155 (13,637) [399,530]