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Lil Wayne Album is Selling Big Time

Posted on: Thursday, 19 June 2008, 06:00 CDT

By Ken Barnes

Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III sold 1.01 million copies last week, the first album to top the million mark in a week since 50 Cent's The Massacre in 2005.

Signs abounded that the New Orleans rapper was about to break big. Last week, the album sold 423,000 copies its first day. Hit single Lollipop has sold 2.14 million downloads and is the year's top-selling ringtone at nearly 2 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"He has figured out what the record industry is struggling with," says Vibe editor in chief Danyel Smith. "Wayne has been giving away songs for the last two years," expanding his audience in the process.

"This whole album leaked two weeks before it came out, and people still bought it like crazy."

Billboard charts director Geoff Mayfield says the album benefited from unusually large retail orders, around 1.8 million copies. "You don't see that kind of shipment unless retail is comfortable it will sell."

The album is a throwback of sorts: Its sales chiefly came from record chains, and its digital sales percentage is also less than average -- 9.9% vs. 15.3% overall.

But despite Lil Wayne's shot in the arm, which is largely responsible for a 23% gain in total album sales over last week, sales for the year are still down 11%. "The top of the chart is not a problem," Mayfield says. "Lower on the chart, you realize we have a business in serious transition.

"There's a perception that music is recession-proof, but I think that's foolhardy. In an era when a compact car takes $50 to fill the tank, other options to experience music (than buying it) gain importance.

"But Lil Wayne clearly proves, as will Coldplay next week, that if you release the right album at the right time, it will sell."

Coldplay's Viva La Vida album sold 316,000 copies Tuesday, its first day available. It's projected by Billboard to sell in the 700,000-750,000 range for the week, in the ballpark of 2005's predecessor, X&Y.

Contributing: Steve Jones (c) Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

Source: USA TODAY

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