Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Music news Rick Ross upends Asher Roth with first week sales
Posted by Ben Westhoff on Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 6:04 PM
There was much speculation about who would emerge victorious in last week's sale's battle between pathological fibber/former correctional officer Rick Ross and Atlanta transplant/suburban zeitgeist-capturer Asher Roth. The normally Manhattan-obsessed Gawker even weighed in on Roth, with Pitchfork's Tom Breihan going so far as to predict Ross would move 300,000 units in his first week out and to speculate that if a second single "manages to stick, he'll go platinum, easy."
It doesn't look like that's gonna happen. The results are in, and Roth's Asleep in the Bread Aisle has debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, moving 67,449 copies. (Some have the figure closer to 62,000. Can anyone explain the differential to me?)
Ross moved about 158,000 units and hit the top spot, making Deeper Than Rap his third number one album. Not bad, but indicative of the weak sales climate and, for the record, nowhere near as many copies as his rival 50 Cent tends to sell, even on a bad outing.
Among other Atlanta artists, Keri Hilson's In A Perfect World... continues to defy industry expectations, moving 23K this week to put it over 200,000 all told. Looks like the album's long delay didn't kill it after all, although who knows how high she could have flown if the thing had dropped last year. As it stands, Hip Hop DX notes its "considerable radio and video play" and calls her "Interscope's present R&B flagship artist."
Comments (1)
Showing 1-1 of 1
like
dislike
Latest in Crib Notes
-
For Edward Sharpe 'Home' is at the Tabernacle
Keep an ear out for the new songs, too
-
W.I.C. feat. Elijah Jones get gross with 'My Cologne'
It's the kind of song that makes you cringe and look at your friend sideways while uttering with repulsion, "You did not just say that ..."
-
Tracklist: New songs from Lana, Franz, Modest Mouse, and The xx
- More »
More by Author
-
K.I.N.: Still Atlanta's original oddballs, 20-odd years later 1
Featuring alums such as Saul Williams, CX KiDTRONiK, and Sol Messiah, no one in Atlanta’s emerging, early ’90s hip-hop scene was stranger than K.I.N.
- More »
