Joey Bada$$’ ‘B4.Da.$$’ Debuts At No. 5 In This Week’s Album Sales

Thanks to Joey Bada$$ it seems as if New York hip-hop is alive and well. With his first official album, B4.Da.$$, out and receiving critical acclaim, the Brooklyn MC had a very strong showing on this week's Billboard chart by debuting at No. 5 with 58,000 total units sold. The album also debuted at No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the Rap Albums chart. Joey's model of releasing free mixtapes and building a loyal fan base through touring has paid off in a big way.

In a bit of a surprise, Bada$$ outsold veteran MC Lupe Fiasco whose album Tetsuo & Youth debuted at No. 15 with 36,00 total units sold. As has been the case with his past albums under Atlantic, Tetsuo & Youth almost never saw the light of day. But thanks to some help from the radical group Anonymous, Atlantic finally gave the project a release date. Fiasco has had an odd start to the year. He has had a feud with Kid Cudi, claimed that he "doesn't want to be relevant anymore," quit Twitter, and had social media beefs with Azealia Banks and GrandeMarshall. Despite the setbacks and eccentric behavior, Fiasco managed to put out an album that pleased his hardcore fans.

Elsewhere on the charts; Nicki Minaj's The Pinkprint stayed at No. 6 with another 54,000 units sold and J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive slipped six spots to No. 16 with 32,058 sold. After debuting at No. 5, Rae Sremmurd's SremmLife fell to No. 25 in its third week on the chart.

5. Joey Bada$$, B4.Da.$$, 58,000
6. Nicki Minaj, The Pinkprint, 54,000
16. J. Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive, 32,058
25. Rae Sremmurd, SremmLife, 16, 197

* The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on mulit-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.

[Billboard]

Filed Under: Billboard, Joey Bada$$, Lupe Fiasco

Categories: News