Rick Ross’ strategy of appearing on everybody’s songs and clogging the radio airwaves with his grunting has paid off as his new album, ‘God Forgives, I Don’t’, has topped the Billboard 200. In fact, the heavyweight rapper has notched a personal best with the highest opening sales of his career.
‘God Forgives’ rolled onto the Billboard 200 at #1 with sales exceeding 219K copies. Those numbers exceed the 198K copies sold by Ross’ ‘Trilla’ album in 2008. However, the good news for the Hip-Hop industry didn’t end there as this latest chart-topper has earned Ross his 4th #1 album on the Billboard 200 and positioned him ahead of Lil Wayne, who only has three pole position sets.
A bit of history was also made on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, thanks to Carly Rae Jepsen’s runaway hit, ‘Call Me Maybe’. The song has notched a 9th week atop the chart to become the longest-running #1 song of 2012 by outlasting Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’. The latter tune ruled the lineup for eight weeks.
See the leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:
1. Rick Ross – ‘God Forgives, I Don’t’ – ’219K (debut)
2. Zac Brown Band – ‘Uncaged’ – 39K (total: 400K)
3. Justin Bieber – ‘Believe’ – 35K (total: 719K)
4. One Direction - ‘Up All Night’ – 34K (total: 1.07 M)
5. Bee Gees – ‘Number Ones’ – 32K (total: 165K)
6. Nas – ‘Life is Good’ – 32K (total: 226K)
7. Various Artists – ‘Kidz Bop 22′ – 31K (total: 130K)
8. Adele – ’21′ – 29K (total: 9.66 M)
9. Maroon 5 - ‘Overexposed’ – 25K (total: 411K)
10. Joss Stone – ‘Soul Sessions Vol. 2′ – 24K (debut)
1. Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’
2. Ellie Goulding – ‘Lights’
3. Flo Rida – ‘Whistle’
4. Katy Perry – ‘Wide Awake’
5. Maroon 5 – ‘Payphone (Ft. Wiz Khalifa)’
6. Gotye’s – ‘Somebody That I Used to Know (Ft. Kimbra)’
7. Rihanna – ‘Where Have You Been’
8. David Guetta – ‘Titanium (Ft. Sia)’
9. Phillip Phillips - ‘Home’
10. Pink – ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’
Watch the video for Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’ below: