The Numbers Game | Today In Rap | Your First Stop For Hip-Hop News & Opinion

Lana Del Ray could be in no way categorized as Hip-Hop or R&B. But since the new releases are kinda slow right now and there has been a lotta talk about her, I thought it was only right to at least acknowledge that her album dropped last Tuesday. And even with all the negative reactions [...]

Yea, I’m late as hell posting up the sales figures for today. But not much was going on Hip-Hop wise other than K’naan‘s EP More Beautiful Than Silence dropping last week and landing at #172. I haven’t really checked it out but I did hear that song he has with Nas on it. It’s was [...]

Etta James passed on January 20th (R.I.P.) and as with other recently deceased artists in the past, recently like Michael Jackson or Amy Winehouse, we see a jump in the sales. In the case of Etta James there was a 378% jump in sales last week. Arguably her most famous song, “At Last”, increased by [...]

I’m writing this earlier in the day, but no one will see it until later because we participated in the SOPA/PIPA blackout (But since we post so infrequently, I’m sure not many people even noticed). Either way, we had two new albums debut last week. Yo Gotti finally released his often delayed Live From The [...]

Some Braniac Beats with Joell Ortiz.

It turns out that Swizzy's the CEO of the file-sharing site, and now he's fighting a legal battle with Universal Music Group.

This week Cole World: The Sideline Story officially crossed the 500k mark. Not only that but J. Cole‘s single “Work Out” also went Platinum. Other than that (And like usual) nothing is really going on around this time of year. Yo Gotti’s Live From The Kitchen dropped this past Tuesday, so we’ll see how that [...]

No notable new albums came out last week but we do see a holiday push in sales for some artists (Like Mac Miller, Beyonce, The Throne, & Drake) as well as Rihanna‘s Talk That Talk going Gold (Hi Rihanna!). But since we’re basically a Hip-Hop site and this is the first Numbers Game of the [...]

After two years of delay, Young Jeezy‘s Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition finally hit the store shelves last week and it looks like Jeezy still has some fans out there. TM103 sold 233,000 in it’s first week and lands at #3. If it wasn’t for Adele (Who’s 21 sold 400,000 in one week a year [...]

Days after the release of "Echoes Of Silence" and The Weeknd has revealed that he will soon release a package featuring all three of his mixtapes.

I respect the talent of Anthony Hamilton but I honestly thought he wasn’t dropping Back To Love until next year (Though no one told me that). Either way, 63,000 units sold and the #12 spot is pretty respectable. File the Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa joint album/movie soundtrack/stoner soundtrack Mac And Devin Go to High School [...]

Amy Winehouse releases her first posthumous compilation album last week titled Lioness: Hidden Treasures. Well, I guess Amy Winehouse didn’t release the album; that would be impossible. Either way, the album does good as it debuts at #5 and sells around 114,000 copies. The Roots return to retail with the story of Redford Stevens. Their album, undun, debuts [...]

After giving fans two full mixtapes last month (Anticipation II & #LEMMEHOLDATBEAT2), Trey Songz returned last week and dropped an EP titled Inevitable. Now let me say that it’s cool that 27,000 women went out and paid Trigga Trey for five songs, but at this point of his career, I thnk Trey is too big [...]

French Montana speaks on label situation, relationship with Akon, Max B's upcoming release, and more in new interview.

Rihanna drops her 6th album in six years with Talk That Talk. The new album didn’t grab the #1 spot (Something Rih-Rih has never done) and it didn’t quite sell over 200k (It sold 198,000), but you gotta remember that Rihanna’s albums always start slow but still consistently go Platinum. Besides, her previous album, Loud, [...]

As expected, Drake‘s Take Care easily takes to #1 spot this week and sells around 630,000 copies. Not only did Drizzy kick the sophomore slump in the ass, he also has the 3rd highest debut behind Lady Gaga’s Born This Way & Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter IV (I don’t really count Gaga’s though). Besides all [...]

After week of hearing it, we finally get to see the reality of Mac Miller‘s debut album Blue Slide Park sitting on top of the charts. Besides this obviously showing that Miller has some fans, the main point people are pointing out is that he’s doing all this on an indie label (This also marks [...]

Not even some Maury Povich shit can stop Justin Bieber as we see his Christmas album, Under The Mistletoe, take the #1 spot this week selling roughly 210,000 units. I really can’t speak much on this album because after hearing that terrible “Drumma Boy” song with Busta Rhymes, I knew it wasn’t even worth an [...]

Not much to report this week in terms of record sales as we only have 2 notable releases in the Top 200 (This is actually a good thing because your boy B-Easy is exhausted right now). Boyz II Men released their 10th album Twenty. The title represent the group’s 20th anniversary and besides having 13 new [...]

Skyzoo is bringin the heat as usual in his new vid. It's all written in the drums man.

I know for a fact that I need to take a vacation. Why? Because I’m slippin’. On last week’s Numbers Game I didn’t even acknowledge that DJ Drama‘s album Third Power came out. But then again, after checking Google, it seems like everybody else forgot too. Either way, I guessing Third Power sold around 10,000 [...]

By now I’m sure you’ve that Taylor Swift sold over 1 million copies of Speak Now in her first week. All of this is happening while most of the new Hip-Hop debuts this week (Except Tech N9ne‘s Seepage EP which came in at #57) were barely able to crack 1,000. Now to be honest, most [...]

The former Boogie Down Productions sensation lands a management deal with Jay-Z, as he handles deejaying, film, photography and an emcee past.

Fiasco heads over to Shade45 to shed light on a slew of topics including "Lasers," his fight with Atlantic and his displeasure with MTV and bloggers.

Even though I do a column every week that talks about album sales, I’ll be the first to admit that sales don’t equal good music. I also will be the first to point out that in terms of sales, most the music industry is in bad shape. But GLC not being able to sell over [...]

Lil’ Wayne gets a big boost this week as we see the physical retail release of I Am Not A Human Being taking him back up the charts to the #1 spot. All this and he’s still in jail folks. I haven’t had a chance to listen a lot of material from the group Chiddy Bang [...]

Bruno Mars leads the group of new releases this week with his debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans at #3. I’m happy to see him get shine for his own material for a change (He’s wrote and produced hits fro B.o.B, Cee-Lo, & Travie McCoy, just to name a few). Even with Bruno’s recent drug related [...]

This week, not only do we have seven debuts in the Top 30, we also have two new albums from rappers who are currently incarcerated (Win or loss for Hip-Hop?). Lil’ Wayne‘s new album I Am Not A Human Being grabs the #2 spot on the charts this week. Even a cell couldn’t hold Wayne back [...]

Well, it looks like The Roots (with the assist from John Legend) scored their second Top 10 debut album this year. Yea, Wake Up! didn’t crack 100,000 in first week sells, but for an album that consists of 1960′s & 1970′s soul music, 63,000 is pretty good. #6 Eminem/Recovery (Last Week: #3) – 65,800 ; Total: [...]

The Numbers Game: Lana Del Ray

The Numbers Game: K’Naan

The Numbers Game: Etta James

The Numbers Game: Yo Gotti & Schoolboy Q

[Singles] Praise f. Joell Ortiz – “Bring Us Back”

[News] Swizz Beatz Revealed As CEO Of Megaupload, Sues UMG

The Numbers Game: Gold World

The Numbers Game: End Of The Year Wrap-Up

The Numbers Game: Young Jeezy, Common, & Roscoe Dash

[News] The Weeknd Preparing To Release Mixtape Trilogy As A Package Next Year

The Numbers Game: Anthony Hamilton, Snoop Dogg, & Wiz Khalifa + Drake Goes Platinum

The Numbers Game: Amy Winehouse, The Roots, Robin Thicke, & T-Pain

The Numbers Game: Trey Songz & Jet Life

[News] French Montana To Announce Which Label He’s Interested In During “106 & Park” Appearance

The Numbers Game: Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, & Yelawolf

The Numbers Game: Drake Is #1 + Childish Gambino & Webbie

The Numbers Game: Mac Miller Is #1

The Numbers Game: Justin Bieber, Wale, & Tyrese

The Numbers Game: Boyz II Men & Jedi Mind Tricks + Watch The Throne Goes Over A Million

[Videos] Skyzoo – “Written In The Drums”

The Numbers Game: Joe, Everlast, & DJ Drama

The Numbers Game: A Swift Million

The Numbers Game: A Swift Million

[News] Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Officially Manages DJ D-Nice

[News] Lupe Fiasco Speaks on Atlantic, “Lasers,” MTV and Bloggers

The Numbers Game: Crisis

The Numbers Game: Weezy Is #1 + Foreign Exchange, Vado, & Chiddy Bang Debut

The Numbers Games: Bruno Mars, Waka Flocka Flame, & Pimp C

The Numbers Game: Weezy, Gucci, Boosie, & Cube

The Numbers Game: John Legend & The Roots