Fueled by the hit single “Lollipop”, Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter III debuted with the highest weekly sales figure since 2005. The Cash Money/Universal set moved just over 1 million copies in the United States. According to Nielsen SoundScan, it was the first time since 50 Cent’s The Massacre in March 2005 that an artist reached seven-figure sales.
Sales for Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne’s first No. 1 on The Billboard 200. His previous biggest sales week was a 238,000-unit start for Tha Carter II in 2005, which entered The Billboard 200 at No. 2 and became his fourth No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.
No album in 2006 sold as many as 800,000 copies in a single frame, and the largest sales week since The Massacre belonged to Kanye West’s Graduation, which netted an opener of 957,000 copies last year when it hit stores on Sept. 11.
