Happy days are here again for the beleaguered music industry…at least for a week. It turns out that everyone who was wondering whether Mariah, Madonna, or Usher would have the biggest blockbuster sales opening of the year had their eyes on the wrong contenders: It’s rapper Lil Wayne, who’s set to have the most massive first week of any new album this spring, by far. And, contrary to industry wisdom, it seems the album was helped by premature leaks.
How huge will it be? Tha Carter III just came out Tuesday morning, so it’s difficult to tell from less than a day’s worth of sales, but an exec at Lil Wayne’s label estimates the disc will sell between 850,000 and 950,000 by the end of its first week. If their numbers are correct, that would be about double the opening figure for 2008’s current record-holder, Mariah Carey’s E=MC2, which opened with 463,000 copies. “The accounts were bullish by 10 in the morning,” reports Pat Monaco, exec VP of sales for the Universal Motown Republic Group. “The sales the first few hours were exceeding the rate that the Kanye album sold a year ago.” (That one ended up selling 957,000 the first week; nothing has come close since.) “Wayne was one of these records that, because it was so highly anticipated, with the leaks and everything, it caused more people to go out at 8 in the morning to buy the CD.”
Did he say leaks helped? Indeed. But Tha Carter III
was no ordinary leaked album. Release dates came and went — October,
March, etc. — and various versions of the album would either escape
onto the Internet or be unofficially released by Lil Wayne himself on
bootleg mix tapes, followed by the star indulging in new rounds of
recording. Label attempts to pin down the project “were like putting a
traditional setup and street date on a guy that was just
nontraditional,” says Monaco. “It changed dates, changed titles,
changed songs, changed the people that were working on it. But
sonically, the record bears out” all the time that went into it, Monaco
contends.
One element that really went against conventional wisdom: the idea
that massive exposure is overexposure. Between the leaks, the mix
tapes, and appearing on other people’s records, Lil Wayne has been
everywhere in the last year. But all that seems to have whetted, instead of
diminished, interest in the long-awaited project. We’ll find out for
sure on Wednesday, June 18 whether sales meet — or even exceed —
Universal’s projections.
Did he say leaks helped? Indeed. But Tha Carter IIIwas no ordinary leaked album. Release dates came and went — October,March, etc. — and various versions of the album would either escapeonto the Internet or be unofficially released by Lil Wayne himself onbootleg mix tapes, followed by the star indulging in new rounds ofrecording. Label attempts to pin down the project "were like putting atraditional setup and street date on a guy that was justnontraditional," says Monaco. "It changed dates, changed titles,changed songs, changed the people that were working on it. Butsonically, the record bears out" all the time that went into it, Monacocontends.
One element that really went against conventional wisdom: the ideathat massive exposure is overexposure. Between the leaks, the mixtapes, and appearing on other people’s records, Lil Wayne has beeneverywhere in the last year. But all that seems to have whetted, instead ofdiminished, interest in the long-awaited project. We’ll find out forsure on Wednesday, June 18 whether sales meet — or even exceed —Universal’s projections.
Comments (1-30) of 62 Add your comment
I’m 29 and I feel so old. I have no idea who he is or why it would be cool to have “Lil” in your name..and I’m black too.
I am 29 year old and I want to say I have never seen the people in Alexandria, La.which are black and white searching from store to store wanting tee shirts and cd’s that pertaining to Lil’Wayne and Plies. In general, I think these two rapper are the hottest his market. I want to tell these guys please keep your fans happy with your music.
See ya Later,
nisheka hayes
lil wayne has been in the rap industry for 11 years now and people just started recognizing him over the past couple of years beacause of his mixtapes, he has a lyrical flow unlike anyother and has 13-35 year olds bumpin his music everywhere, he is a phenomenon on the internet and the media has created such a buzz that he will sell a million in the first week easily, i havent bought an album in 4 yrs and i bought this album and lemme tell u three othere ppl within a ten minute span bought the album too so yea hez popular
HEY PEEPZ I JUST WANTED TO DROP IN AND SAY THAT I HAVE BEEN A WEEZY FAN SINCE HE HIT THE SCENE ALONG TIME AGO AZ A LIL WAYNE. YOU KNOW WHEN HE DROPPED HIZ FIRST CD AND IT DIDN’T HAVE A CURZE WORD ON IT. NOT CUZ IT WAZ EDITED BUT BECUZ HE WAZ A LITTLE LIL WAYNE. WEEZY KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK.. I THINK U R AWESOME AND I AM 32 YRZ OLD… SO DO YOU GUY
OH Y-E-A-H GOT THAT CARTER 3 AND YEZ IT WAZ WORTHY OF YOUR BABI PIC BEIN ON THE COVER CUZ U R THE GREAT AND THIZ CD IZ UR BEST WORK 2 DATE!!!!!!!!
dis cd gonna do numberz jus because u only heard 2 songs on the cd andtey was on the radio so e gonna do at least 800 stacks the first week
i guess this just shows how sh*tty the popular music scene is today.
Get the Cd don’t burn this one. He works to hard and is the Best Rapper Alive
Horrible rapper. Overrated. Stupid and ignorant. Makes no sense half the time. And ugly as hell. I don’t and WILL NOT ever get his appeal. He’s garbage. And for any of the lemmings who are hard core “Weezy F Baby” dckriders need to disappear from the face of the earth. The world should be capable of embracing real music and even real rap music for the matter. This down south Ringtone rapper movement has to stop.
ur stupid
lil wayne is not a good rapper, he uses his sound and 8th grade lyrics to make jits. it is a SAD SAD day when this trash sells almost a million copies in a week. just goes to show waht mindless drivel people will listen to. and, yes i am a huge fan of rap music, GOOD rap music.
Here’s the deal, for years Lil’ Wayne annoyed me and in the last year or so he has impressed me so much. At first I thought his voice was terrible, but he uses it so well to his advantage. His ability to do such a wide range of songs is impressive to anyone. I mean on his new disc he has slow, deep, songs, fast club songs, pop songs (radio cuts), and of course he has the strange songs that people think make no sense. If you say that his songs dont make sense, thats cause you dont understand his situation or what he is discussing, all his lines are as deep or deeper than your favorite rapper. At first I thought his new cd THA CARTER III was off, not a good cd, although after listening like 10 times, all the songs are fantastic and have there individuallity to them. LIL’ WAYNE IS THE MOST CREATIVE, TALENTED, MISUNDERSTOOD, RAPPER IN THE GAME. BUY THE NEW CARTER III AND LISTEN 10 TIMES AND YOUR OPINION WILL CHANGE, I PROMISE!!!
THE CARTER 3 IS SOME SHYT
NO ONE IS BUYING IT THEY ALREADY GOT IT. THEY DOWNLOADED IT. IT’S HONESTLY NOT WORTH BUYING. LIL WAYNE ONLY HAS ONE GOOD ALBUM N THAT WAS THE CARTER 1.EVERYTHING ELSE HE’S SOME SHYT WIT HIS FAKE ASS
N HE SCARED OF FIFTY. HE SAID FIFTY WAS THE HARDEST DUDE ON THE PLANET N HE WOULD NEVER BEEF WIT HIM. LOOK ON HIPHOPDX.COM TO SEE IT
Hey Terrell, would you be afraid of 50? He’s a bad ass dude, possibly trying to hurt/kill his baby mama and his child? Come on man, 50 is crazy, Wayne is just a smart dude. I’m glad Wayne is not into beefing with peeps, thats not what rap shoud be about, is about being you and sharing good music with others, Wayne got that memo.
everyone is buying this CD not only because the songs are good but because fans got much love fo wayne and they wanna support him. i know ima buy it and i already have the whole CD on my computer.
All these haters…Lil Wayne HAS to obviously be great. He has so much support from the biggest people in the game. Jay-Z, Kanye, T-Pain, and many other big producers. Tha Carter III is one of the best albms of the year and it’s worth buying even if you already downloaded it!!!
Wayne is a great and hard working artist, he is everywhere, no other artist right now is producing so many songs and at the quality he is. His mixtapes are good and now with a CD, and hes prob. going to keep hip hop going with more music than just this album through this year. No one is even close to him right now, he steped to the plate, and other top artist are working with him, Jay-z, Kayne, T-pain, and even 50 cent apologizes for his attack & said hes doing his thing.
This is how you know a rapper is at the epitome of his popularity. You have people on one extreme saying he’s the BEST RAPPER EVER then you have people who say he’s TRASH. He’s neither. He’s the best young dude in the game in terms of being a complete artists. Obviously there’s other dudes who are better lyrically, but lyrics aint where it stop. Flow, lyrics, wit, creativity, charisma, all that is the package. Whether you like it or not he is producing appealing music nationwide. And for the record I think a lot of people outside of the South can’t really get past his voice but that’s so ignorant. I dont like all of the cookie cutter east coast rappers but I give each one a try to see how good of an artist they are. STOP HATIN
LIL WAYNE is the best rapper alive! and his new album is sick! All of is music is great,tight beats, and crazy metaphors go great.
hip-hop is for sure not dead!
He is great: exactly what Saul Williams would call a Black Republican
Girls and money are overrated in hip-hop, why doesn’t he bring more meaninful subjects into his lyrics so that African American’s can stop fueling their own stereotypes.
As a listener, his songs lack substance, despite his lyrical talent.
might as well- madonna, mariah, and usher are getting boring
All i have to say is STOP HATIN, Lil Wayne is the best rapper alive and maybe one day the greatest rapper alive. The carter III is the best cd ever made and everyone should go buy their own copy and suppor him. he has worked too hard. he gave away hundreds of songs for free. least u can do is buy carter III for 9.99. ya dig
Numbers dont lie people. If he sells the most records this year then hes the best rapper this year. Hes mixtape king by far. but I dont know if any of his cds have been classic. I have cds that i dont ever have to change a song. On c1 and c2 i change a few. But dudes only 26 so weve got years left. jayz is 40 i thnk and still rapping. so just think 10 more years of wayne would be real nice. people can hate but guess what. wayne 2 high 2 hear u bastards so talk all u want. lol
LiL wayne is wack!!!!! That is not real hip hop. I’m not hatin just statin the facts. I seen hip hop from the start. You can’t say a rapper is the best just because of sales. Most people buying hip hop today have no idea of the real roots of the culture. They just buy cause someone else says it’s hot. There is so many other artist in hip hop that are better than lil wayne but they don’t get the promotion that wayne does. 3 years from now there will be a new idiot coon to say he is the best rapper alive. EVERYTHING FOR SALE EVEN SOULS!!!!
Lil Wayne is the 2nd best rapper alive!! (Next to Jay!!). His lyrics is so HOTT!1 I don’t even like rap, but I enjoy listening to both of the Carters!!!!
tha Carter III truly is overated
he’s not the best rapper ALive…
Mr West is the best
C3 is just like another one of his mixtapes
tha drought 3 is way better than this
For sum reason kanye keeps sayin help wayne sell a million his 1st week..kanye west is just be bashful
http://www.myspace.com/nottherealshawnmorris
tha carter 3 is the best album this year so far. i cant believe that lil wayne is wack. whoever said that is not a true hip hop fan. lil wayne is the best rapper alive the rest of the rappers out right not is overrated. kanye west is good but not better than wayne. sorry
whoever said c3 is just like another one of his mixtapes is surely retarded.. it is closer to being the opposite of his mixtapes.. the album making industry doenst allow wayne to showcase his talents because he is restricted by the etiquette of the industry and albums
The album is hot but it might be classic but I am not going to say he is the best rapper alive off of one great album as long as jay is in the game he runs a close second. That American Gangster Albulm is better than the Carter III
Funny that someone mentioned Saul Williams. The very same who sold his song to a Nike commercial… Yeah. That’s keeping it real. Anyway, on to Wayne. This CD is OK. I do think that he is the best rapper alive, but I don’t think this CD packs the same punch as his Mixed tapes. But, we can kind of look at ourselves for that. All of us who kept downloading his leaked tracks, etc. That’s why he put The Leak out, because he wanted to at least make some money off of his stolen work. Imagine this CD if it had’ve had those tracks on it in place of others like “Got Money”, and “Comfortable”. Those songs on The Leak were WAY hotter than anything on C3. So, thank dishonest people for this lackluster CD.
I am a mother and a grandmother and I love music. I listen to rock, pop, opera, country, jazz, and yes-hip hop. I started with the Sugar Hill up to the artists out now.
I usually buy boot leg cds or download from Limewire. The Carter lll was the first “real” cd I have bought in 2 years. When I went to Target the sales person said people were outside at 8 am for the cd, there was an employee stationed there to keep the rack filled.
Lyrically, no one can touch him. Kanye is a spoiled diva, but he is talented. Jay Z is a brilliant business man who can rap. But even they give Wayne props.
Yes he is a drug addict, yes he is ugly, and yes he is a mysogynist, but he is also the BEST RAPPER ALIVE!
I downloaded the leaks and bought the cd in fear that I might miss something. I have c3 on all 3 of my mp3s.
Like a painting, you can listen to Wayne and find another little nuance in a verse that you didn’t hear before.
Oh well, one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.