Lil Wayne Sells "A Milli"

In case you haven't heard yet, rapper Lil Wayne has sold over a million copies of his latest release, Tha Carter III, in one week. This is very good for the music industry because sales have been faltering for a while now. Albums have sold in the hundreds of thousands in their debut week, but no one has hit the million unit mark since 2005 (50 Cent's sophomore album). Therefore, Tha Carter III brings hope back to a deflated game. It shows that you CAN still put up big numbers if the album has enough of a buzz around it. Lil Wayne didn't even have a stellar marketing plan, or any publicity stunt-type set up for this release. True, there was the onslaught of press for months, but that was due to the fact that, love him or hate him, Lil Wayne is a star. He says what he wants, is cockier than Kanye, and gave himself the title of "Greatest Rapper Alive" a while back. In other words, he behaves like a rock star. Women think he's sexy (although I can NOT imagine how), men think he's funny, and the press thinks his sometimes brash/sometimes comical delivery is entertaining and real.

But before the marketing machines start going crazy proclaiming that Lil Wayne is making unprecedented moves in the music industry, let's all calm down for a moment. Selling a million plus units is nothing new. And no, before you say it's only been the pop tarts who've sold that much in the past, that's not true either. Yes, Lil Wayne has beaten first week sales records for rap greats such as Jay-Z and Kanye, he hasn't beaten other rappers such as 50 Cent and Eminem.

So now for your information, and because you know I always love to hook my readers up with THE REAL, I have compiled a list of other million-plus unit debuts for your perusal in chronological order:

1999 - Backstreet Boys' Millenium 1.13 million units sold first week

2000 - Backstreet Boys' Black & Blue 1.6 million units sold first week

2000 - Britney Spears' Oops...I Did It Again 1.3 million units sold first week

2000 - NSYNC No Strings Attached 2.4 million units sold first week

2001 - NSYNC Celebrity 1.8 million units sold first week

2002 - Eminem The Eminem Show 1.32 million units sold first week

2005 - 50 Cent The Massacre 1.14 million units sold in first four days

And before you start wondering, no, superstar artists such as Jay-Z, Kanye, Madonna, Mariah, Biggie, and Janet Jackson have never sold more a million or more units in any one week.

In conclusion, Lil Wayne has definitely accomplished something big this past week, but he hasn't broken new ground. The industry was definitely a different place when Jive Records was running things with their pop trifecta of NSYNC, Britney, and The Backtreet Boys. However, 50 just did over a mil in 2005 AND THAT WAS ONLY IN FOUR DAYS (it was an abbreviated week because they ended up releasing the album early to try and quell the bootleg sales that were getting out of hand). At least Tha Carter III has given us hope once again. It's like the rap game's Obama. Holla.