Lil Wayne Trumps Jay-Z, Kanye West on the Charts

It's a good week for hip-hop.

As previously reported, Lil Wayne's long-awaited Tha Carter IV album enters the Billboard Top 200 chart at No. 1 with 964,000 sold in the United States in its debut week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The set is the highest-selling rap album and highest-selling album from a male artist, period, since Weezy's 2008 opus, Tha Carter III, which sold 1,005,000 units its first-week. Additionally, Tha Carter IV is the second highest-selling LP of 2011 after Lady Gaga's Born this Way, which sold 1.1 million.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne album drops two spots this week, landing at No. 4 with 79,600 sold this week for a total of 786,700. Game's The R.E.D. Album also drops from the top spot to No. 8, selling 38,800 units this week, and 136,700 overall. Meanwhile, Royce Da 5'9" and Eminem's Bad Meets Evil EP, Hell: The Sequel, falls five slots to No. 20, with 17,500 moved this week for a grand total of 498,500, just a few thousand units away from Gold status.

And last but not least, Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday is still riding strong on the tally, jumping three slots to No. 33 with 11,900 albums sold this week, adding up to a total of 1,564,500 units moved to date.

Be sure to check back next week to see if Lil Wayne can maintain his spot on the charts. —Mariel Concepcion