Eminem, Nicki Minaj & Kanye West Dominate the Charts

In the first week of 2011, hip-hop is dominating The Billboard 200 albums chart, with Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West all occupying the top 5.

Eminem came in at No. 2 after selling 63,300 copies of Recovery over the last week according to the Nielsen SoundScan report, released today (January 5). The Detroit Lyricist’s 6th solo disc has racked up and overall sales figure of 3,414,900 units after 28 weeks on the charts, and is obviously still going strong, with no signs of slowing down.

At No. 4 is Young Money princess Nicki Minaj. The Queens-bred star’s debut album, Pink Friday, added 60,900 CDs to its grand total, which now stands at 851,800. Right under Nicki is Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy at No. 5. In week 6, Yeezy picked up 58,400 in sales, making his to-date figures equal 882,200.

Landing at the No. 16 spot is T.I. The incarcerated rapper’s new disc, No Mercy, brought in 32,600 in sales this cycle, bringing his four week total to 333,300.

Rounding out the top 40 is Lil Wayne, Diddy-Dirty Money and Kid Cudi. Weezy’s I Am Not A Human Being landed at No. 20 this week after attracting 26,400 in sales which makes his overall stats sit at 664,100. At No. 27 is Puffy. About 21,100 fans hopped on the rap mogul’s Last Train to Paris over the last seven days, making his two week total equal 161,300. Cudder’s Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager jumped almost 40 seats up to No. 32. It earned around 18,000 more fans this week, bringing his 8 week tally to 331,100.

Next week look for Nicki Minaj to try to surpass Kanye in overall sales. —Elan Mancini