AllRespect.com // Jay-Z, Kanye West Hold Onto <i>Billboard</i> Throne

Posted on 2011-08-25 03:00:21
Artist/band(s): Jay-Z [FB], Kanye West [FB]

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1669588/kanye-west-jay-z-watch-the-throne-number-1-billboard.jhtml

Watch the Throne stays at #1, despite 59 percent drop in sales.By Aly Semigran

Jay-Z and Kanye WestPhoto: Getty Images

After an impressive debut week on the Billboard 200 chart, Kanye West and Jay-Z's collaborative effort Watch the Throne, will once again sit at the top. Adding to the 436,000 copies they sold last week, the hip-hop dynamos moved another 177,000 this week, bringing their current total to 613,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures.

While the Throne won't get bragging rights to 2011's biggest first-week seller on the Billboard charts (that honor still belongs to Lady Gaga), they successfully beat Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends record for one-week sales on iTunes. And needless to say, they've claimed the #1 spot on iTunes once again.

Though the second week of Watch the Throne saw a 59 percent drop in sales, it was enough to hold off chart newcomers. None of the week's debuts saw six-digit sales, and only two will crack the top 10: Life at Best from country's Eli Young Band at #6 (35,000) and the latest "Twilight" soundtrack favorite Blue October, Any Man in America at #8 (27,000). Other notable newcomers include rockers Breaking Benjamin's Shallow Bay: The Best of Breaking Benjamin at #22 (14,000) and actor Jeff Bridges' self-titled record, which places at #25 (13,000).

The rest of this week's top 10: Adele's 21, (#2, 80,000), Now That's What I Call Music 39 (#3, 63,000), Luke Bryan's Tailgates & Tanlines (#4, 53,000), Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party (#5, 37,000), Eric Church's Chief (#7, 31,000), Beyoncé's 4 (#9, 25,283) and Kidz Bop 20 (#10, 24,000).

As we inch closer to Sunday's VMAs, fans are continuing to purchase records from this year's nominees and performers, including Lady Gaga's record-breaking Born This Way (#12), which saw a 9 percent increase with this week's sales of 20,000, bringing it's grand total to 1.7 milllion, and Katy Perry's Teenage Dream (#15), up 7 percent after moving 17,000 more copies, which brings her album to 1.7 million as well.

The iTunes albums top 10 parallels the Billboard Top 200, in that Jay and Kanye's Throne rules the roost at #1, and Adele's 21 claims the runner-up position, while Eli Young Band's Life at Best bows at #3. The rest of the chart includes Foster the People's Torches (#4), Luke Bryan's Tailgates & Tanlines (#5), Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More (#6), Maroon 5's Hands All Over (#7), Bad Meets Evil's Hell: The Sequel (#8), Eric Church's Chief (#9), and Lady Gaga's Born This Way (#10).

If Jay and Kanye are looking to three-peat for next week's charts, they'll have to best new releases from the Game (The R.E.D. Album), Lenny Kravitz (Black and White America) and Stephen Malkmus (Mirror Traffic).

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