Wale’s Ambition Sells 163K First Week

In its first week on the Billboard Top 200 album charts, Wale’s Ambition lived up to its title and debuted as the top-selling rap album.

The sophomore album by the 2009 XXL Freshman was picked up 163,900 times during its first seven days in stores, according to the latest Nielsen SoundScan report. Apart from being the top-selling rap album, Ambition’s  numbers were enough to land the No. 2 spot overall.

In order for Wale’s album to take the top spot, Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV had to be the casualty, ending his three-week streak as the top-selling rap album. CIV fell from No. 11 to No. 15, after pushing out 28,400 units. In its 10th week on the charts, Weezy’s latest disc’s tally is now up to 1,643,500.

J. Cole’s debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story, brought in 22,000 in sales over the last seven days but still dropped from No. 16 to No. 20. Now with six weeks under its belt, fans have purchased 370,000 copies.

A few spots below Cole’s album, Jay-Z & Kanye West’s Watch the Throne is at No. 23 after slipping from No. 19. The joint LP pulled in 19,400 units in its 13th week, bringing their count to 1,032,700. —Christopher Minaya