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"Miami" Rap-sody: Rick Ross No. 1
08/17/2006 4:54 PM, E! Online
David Jenison
The Port of Miami might be the "cruise capital of the world,"
but Rick Ross is looking to make it the hustlin' capital, too.
In a week that saw five Top 10 bows and 19 new chart
entries, the rapper's rookie release, Port of Miami, beat all
comers by a comfortable margin. Powered by the hit hip-hop anthem
"Hustlin'," the album docked at number one with 187,000 copies for the
week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Ross
actually signed with Trick Daddy's Miami-based Slip N' Slide label five
years ago; though it took some time to get out the rapper's debut, fans
clearly thought it was worth the wait.
Checking in a
distant second was Breaking Benjamin's Phobia with 125,000. The
album represented a new chart best for the rockers, whose 2002 debut,
Saturate, opened at 136 and 2004's We Are Not Alone peaked
at 20.
With new albums taking the top two spots, Now
That's What I Call Music! 22 slipped to number three on 104,000
copies. Total sales for the hits disc stand at just under the
million-copy mark after five
weeks on sale.
Diddy's
new Bad Boy gal Cassie sold 100,000 copies of her self-titled debut to
open at number four. The album benefits from the hit single "Me & U,"
though the young singer also made recent headlines on less
favorable circumstances. A different and overly sexual version of the
"Me & U" video was leaked on the Internet, and a recent appearance on
New York radio station Hot 97 struck a bad note when the singer started
rating the sexiness of various male artists. Moreover, her live
performances on national TV got the thumbs-down.
The
controversies led the singer to post a message on her MySpace page
saying "I am aware that my live performances have been pretty bad...no
excuses, I'm still getting over stage fright" and "I never said that
Pharrell could get it [during the Hot 97 interview], I said that he was
cute."
Speaking of controversy, Slayer landed a
career-high chart position at five with Christ Illusion selling
63,000. The new album sparked dissent from religious groups that object
to the graphic cover, which even led Fullerton, California, to pull 17
Slayer promotional bus benches. The new album, which isn't the band's
best-selling debut (Divine Intervention sold 93,000 first-week
copies to open at eight in '94), features the return of Dave Lombardo on
drums and Rick Rubin as executive producer.
The Step
Up soundtrack, which benefited from buzz over the surprise
box-office hit, sold 59,000 at number six. This is the sixth soundtrack
to debut in the Top 10 this year, with the High School Musical
soundtrack leading the way as one of the year's all-around bestselling
releases.
There were also two strong Top 20 debuts, both
selling about 37,000 copies: Hellogoodbye's Zombies! Aliens!
Vampires! Dinosaurs! opened at 18 with a few hundred more copies
than country singer Steve Holy's Brand New Girlfriend at 20.
Other notable debuts included Unearth's III: In the Eyes
of Fire at 35, Ani DiFranco's Reprieve at 46, the Jonas
Brothers' It's About Time at 91, Under the Influence of Giant's
self-titled at 134 (the band checked in at number one on
Billboard's Heatseekers New Artist Chart) and the Gin Blossoms'
Major Lodge Victory at 159.
Finally, teen
popsters Aly & AJ celebrated the one-year anniversary of their debut,
Into the Rush, with a new double-disc enhanced edition that
rocketed the title up over 100 spots to number 39. Total
sales now
surpass 600,000 copies.
Overall, CD sales were up 2
percent from the previous week, but down 8 percent from the same week
last year.
Here's a rundown of the Top 10 albums:
1. Port of Miami, Rick Ross
2. Phobia,
Breaking Benjamin
3. Now That's What I Call Music! Vol.
22, various
4. Cassie, Cassie
5. Christ
Illusion, Slayer
6. Step Up soundtrack, various
7. Kidz Bop 10, Kidz Bop
8. St. Elsewhere,
Gnarls Barkley
9. Year of the Dog...Again, DMX
10. All the Right Reasons, Nickelback
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