: NEW YORK (AP) — Lil Wayne now has official numbers to back up his bragging — the rapper's new CD has sold a spectacular 1 million copies its first week.
"Tha Carter III" is easily the best selling first week of the year, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures. Even Kanye West's "The Graduation" didn't eclipse that mark in its first week last year (though it was only about 50,000 copies short).
A prolific rapper who's been ubiquitous on the mixtape scene and on other acts' records, Lil Wayne is generally regarded as one of rap's most gifted performers — but he's never had a multiplatinum album. His last two albums, "Tha Carter" and "Tha Carter II," sold 1.1 million and 1.4 million copies, respectively. "Tha Carter III" was anticipated as the CD that would send the New Orleans rapper into superstardom.
"I've been saying a million all along, and I've been telling people, and they've been looking at me crazy," said Ron Williams, co-founder of Lil Wayne's record label, Cash Money Records.
"He worked hard. He just came with something different. He let his skills show on a lot of mixtapes. He's featured on a lot of people's records," Williams said. "It just made people anticipate his record more than ever."
Already, Lil Wayne's had a No. 1 smash for several weeks — the sexually explicit "Lollipop" — and has been featured on numerous hits over the past year, including the recent remix to Usher's "Love in This Club."
In a slumping industry where selling 200,000 albums in one week is becoming a rare feat, Lil Wayne's achievement is not only a triumph but a much-needed boost — the last CD to sell 1 million or more in its first week was 50 Cent's "The Massacre" in 2005.
Expectations for "Tha Carter III" were high, and it delivered — selling 423,000 copies in its first day of release. It achieved blockbuster numbers despite being heavily bootlegged and leaked on the Internet; past leaks of material for the CD caused parent label Universal Motown to delay its release several times.
Lil Wayne, 25, has been a star on the rap scene since he was a teen, but only in recent years has his star rivaled that of contemporaries like West, a contributor on his new CD.
a million females and youngins wasted their allowance on that crap..and MTO, stop acting like yall were the first to report his record sales..you got it off of soundscan, its not like yall guessed it..anyway I BEG that someone with some real talent come out with a new album soon so real hip hop heads can have something to listen to
So it's edged in stone now....GOOD! Congrats Weezy! Now can't nobody say that ain't nobody buying records anymore. Your a$$e$ just ain't selling so you'll artists can stop blaming that on us! Now take that money you making Weezy and go to rehab STAT! But the boot is so proud of you boo.
Like a string bean Girl I'm healthy Girl I'm lyin Girl just help me!
Hi haters! ;)
I'm so proud of wayne man. Yall don't understand. It has been a long time coming. Dudes don't wanna see the greatness in Wayne. He has matured and grown. Something a true artist must do inorder to be considered an "artist". Most people just get weaker the longer they stay out, Wayne gets better. That's what makes him so appealing to people. People can wanna say their negative thoughts about Wayne but at the end of the day, a majority of people dig him. He has lyrics, he has beats and he has depth. Man...I look foward to hearing a Wayne record. I get excited! I'm proud to be a Wayne fan.
@MizzA- Yep you right. Dudes hating on another brothas success. He has matured in front of our very eyes. I remember him with Hot Boyz. He was soo small and had a soft baby voice. His rhymes were not that tight back then. NOW shoot WEEZY the man! If I was single I would be at every concert rooting him on. He is soo fine. He got that swagger on lock too. His swag is killing Jay's. WEEZY , weezy.. OH I'm getting so excited about this man LOL .. I am soo happy for him and for the cats that said little kids and hoodlums only buy his records, I'll let you know that this 28 year old wife of two kids living in a midwestern town in the suburbs LOVES this MAN. He deserves all the praise and success coming his way. He is versatile and hold an universal audience. My Eygptian husband and his family knows WEEZY.. Over in Germany and France they praising WEEZY. In Portugal and Cape Town, South Africa they celebrating WEEZY.. Shoot yall better recognize a KING when you see one. WEEZY took this rap game by storm and he got hip hop on lock now. Can't no other negro rise to his level.
BTW ALL THE SO CALLED BROTHAS IN HERE WILL GET SMASHED BY WEEZY DURING A FREE STYLE BATTLE!! WEEZY WILL HAVE ALL YALL SWEATING IN YOUR PANTS.. STRAIGHT UP!!!
Im not on hating this man's success but he aint sayin nothin and yall are hangin on to his every word like some damn zombies. Im sorry I just have a short tollerance for ignorance. He says some clever things sometimes but clever bulshyt is still bulshyt...All he does is glorify a bunch of bulshyt that you all follow. So misguided and superficial. How do you sit and be influenced by a junkie? Hopefully you all will grow out of this
Weezy is the best Rapper of this era because of,his stamina,change of flows and his swagger.This kid plays the guitar,which shows versitilty.I went to his show last week in Bmore and although we waited an hour and a half for wayne to perfporm but,the show was very intertaining and he did a very good job,and im from the old school...If you cant understand him dont blame drugs,he is who he is,he might not be 4 you,BUT EVERYBODY I KNOW LUVS WEEZY F>BABY>>PHILLY STAND UP......
Lil wayne has truly fell off....hes mixtapes were better than this album...i expected so much more from him...the dedication 2 mixtape is one of the best mixtapes that I've heard since the year 2000...those lyrics he spit on every last track shouldve been put on this album....this album is a dissapointment....he went platinum congrats....the true king of the south is ludacris...aint no one seeing that man....im very very very dissapointed with this album....im one of those people who went out there and bought the album...i broke that cd in pieces and his album case is what i use to break bud on
to luv weezy u have to be mindless...I kinda like the guy sometimes...he's comical... but best rapper of this era??? not even this year...ill take lupe over weezy anyday... too bad most of yall wouldn't even get lupe and that's a real shame... best rapper my azz. Keep listening to that dumb shyt
chefcuts1@ u must know a lot of dumb nigg@s cus lil wayne's whole flow is geared towards dumb nigg@s who thinks the dumb shyt he says is cool
Congrats Weezy! A milli in one week, that's sick! U know you hot when your sh*t gets leaked intentionally to spite u and u still do a mill the first week...how much would he have done if it wasn't leaked??? A lot people say the album's garbage and I'll admit that it's not as hot as some of his mixtapes but it's still good music! I think the Drought Is Over mixtape was better than the album, but then I got to remember...mixtapes is for the hood, albums are for the masses (the white people and females lmao!) And this is a great album for the masses!
I'm so so Happy for Mr.Carter he so deserves it. I've been rocking with Wayne since the early years of cash money and no he isn't the best looking but he was always my boo and still is. I always knew he had potenial and would be off to greatest. Wheezy and Evee don't like haters! lOl..But Congrats to Wayne....People slept on him way to long,so now ya'll know!
MTO readers are so Dumb!! Ya'll beleive everything you read. This Ni@@a ain't sell no million records in the first week. These ni@@as over there at cash money bought over 500k records, just to make it seem like he is the King. He took game from Masta P, P used to do this all the time in New Orleans and in the Bay. Aint no million people go to no store to buy this s#!% after listening to this wack $#!%!!!
PleaseBelieve-PHUCK WAYNE!
IT'S GOOD IF YOU LIKE THE MUMBLIN'S OF A CRACKHEAD!
THE BEST SONGS WERE LEAKED
gigi2007-a million females and youngins wasted their allowance on that crap..and MTO, stop acting like yall were the first to report his record sales..you got it off of soundscan, its not like yall guessed it..anyway I BEG that someone with some real talent come out with a new album soon so real hip hop heads can have something to listen to
thaonlee1-So 1 million people brought an album that sucks. Good for Lil Wayne I guess. He duped all those people into buying that trash
esotericdredz-MTO quit milking the same damn post every day.....
It is what it is....Females and little kids love him, older cats and hip-hop heads hate him....
Lets move on....NEXT!
Man. Y'all took the words right out of my mouth.
its so hard fo rme to belive that lil wayne even has close to a million fans....its really hard seeintg that none of his music plays on pop stations and [EXPLETIVE]...well mayve lollipop...that may be his only commercial hit if it even went commercial...i mean is lil wayne up there with kanye 50 jigga nas....to have amillion fans...find it hard to believe....i really do...but congrats to him for gettin paper...but no points for that weak album...again i broke the cd and use his case to break bud on
That's because all them n*ggas be on his sack, talking about "no homo". Whatever. Good for him because it's hard as hell to sell a million records nowadays with all the bootlegs! I guess everybody decided they weren't going to download this one. I'm sad because that should have been Kanye. :)
Chi-Town stand up!!
