Nas' Hip-Hop Living Large on Charts

12/28/2006 7:51 AM, E! Online
David Jenison

Most rappers start beefs to help sell albums, but Nas is topping the charts thanks in part to a truce.

Several years back, the Nas-Jay-Z feud got ugly when the two rap stars began attacking each other on wax, most notably with Jigga's "Takeover" and Nas' "Ether." After a surprise truce late last year, Jay-Z used his presidential powers at Def Jam to sign his former nemesis and release the Queens rapper's Hip-Hop Is Dead. The new album even features a collaboration between the two rap titans titled "Black Republican."

The good vibes helped propel Hip-Hop Is Dead to number one on the Billboard 200, selling nearly 355,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released today.

Hip Hop Is Dead, whose title is a dig at newer rap stars supposedly concerned more about money than art, also features production by Kanye West and Will.I.Am.

Nas previously topped the charts with 1999's I Am... and 1996's It Was Written, while his previous album, 2004's double-disc Street Disciple, maxed out at number five. Nas is best known for his groundbreaking 1994 debut, Illmatic, which had critics hailing him as the next Rakim.

Despite the crazed sales week leading up to Christmas, only one other new album cracked the Top 10: Bow Wow's The Price of Fame, selling 262,000 copies at six. The young actor-rapper previously peaked in the number three spot with 2003's Unleashed and again in 2005 with Wanted.

Meanwhile, two bestselling albums reentered the Top 10. Justin Timberlake's Grammy-nominated FutureSex/LoveSounds rocketed up 13 spots to number nine, while Akon's Konvicted rose six spots to number 10.

Outside the Top 10, Mexico's superstar pop group RBD opened at number 40, selling 94,000 copies of its English-language debut, Rebels. The sextet, whose Spanish album Celestial debuted at 15 in late November, emerged from the hit telenovela Rebelde in '04. Though the show wrapped last summer in Mexico, the group returns to the small screen in March with La Familia.

Other notable holiday-week bows included Trick Daddy's Back by Thug Demand at 48, DJ Clue's The Professional, Pt. 3 at 73 and Styles P's Time Is Money at 79.

Overall, album sales were up 34 percent from the week previous but down 6 percent compared to the same week last year. Likewise, total album sales are down about 5 percent relative to 2005.

Although there's still one more sales week in '06, Billboard has projected the Top 10 top-selling albums of 2006. The early projections have the High School Musical soundtrack at number one, Rascal Flatts' Me and My Gang at two, Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts at three, Nickelback's All the Right Reasons at four, James Blunt's Back to Bedlam at five, Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds at six, the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way at seven, Mary J. Blige's The Breakthrough at eight, Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 21 at nine and Beyoncé's B'Day at 10.

Meanwhile, here's a recap of the Top 10 finishers for the pre-Christmas week:

1. Hip-Hop Is Dead, Nas

2. Hannah Montana Soundtrack, various

3. Now That's What I Call Music! 23, various

4. Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood

5. Love, The Beatles

6. The Price of Fame, Bow Wow

7. Awake, Josh Groban

8. Daughtry, Chris Daughtry

9. FutureSex/LoveSounds, Justin Timberlake

10. Konvicted, Akon