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To the surprise of few, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, selling 253,000 copies. It wasn’t even close, with Roman Reloaded selling over 100k more copies than the No. 2 spot, Adele, who still manages to move 153,000 units of 21 over a year since it’s initial release.

Roman Reloaded surpassed the expected sales figure of 215,000-235,000 (although it fell short of the XXL Staff's predictions), which was published by industry experts last week. Still, despite landing at No. 1 —marking Nicki’s first No. 1 debut— Roman Reloaded sold significantly less than her 2010 debut LP, Pink Friday, which moved 375,000 copies in it’s first week. Pink Friday, debuted at No. 2 overall, eventually securing a No. 1 spot on February of 2011.

The rush of YMCMB fans picking up Roman Reloaded had a small trickle down effect, with Drake’s Take Care seeing a small boost in sales, as did Lil Wayne’s Carter IV, which sold another 17k and 8k, respectively, this week. Take Care and Tyga’s Careless World, secured spots as the No. 2 and 3 Hip Hop albums on the Billboard 200, further illustrating Young Money’s chart domination.

Rounding out the top 50, Young Jeezy’s TM103 sold another 9K copies this week, which brings the album’s total sales to over 550,000 to date.

What do you think of Roman Reloaded’s sales? —XXL Staff

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