J.Cole Goes Gold in a Week With Fourth Album (4 Your Eyez Only)

North Carolina rapper, J Cole released his 4th album, 4 Your Eyez Only on the 9th of this month (December), and after a full week in stores, the album sold a staggering 511,000 copies first week. This is his highest first week sales with any of his albums so far.

Is Gold the New Platinum?

We have two weeks left to go in the year, and there is not one Platinum (in excess of a million copies) selling album for 2014. Heck, there is not even a Gold (in excess of 500,000 copies sold) album. Sales are getting pretty embarrassing in the Hip Hop world. It is so bad that Billboard has started adding streams, and singles sales to album sales. So, maybe Gold should just be seen as the new Platinum.






I guess the Internet is really a gift and a curse, as illegal downloads are really hurting album sales. I thought that Eminem's Shady compilation album (Shady XV) would come and save the day but in two weeks it has only sold 170k...not even up to the first week sales of Rick Ross's "Mastermind" album earlier this week. Iggy Azalea's The New Classic album is the highest selling rap album of 2014, and then Rick Ross's Mastermind comes next with 400k sold. Is it that the easier it is to download songs and albums, the more reluctant people feel about going to the store to actually get the physical copies of albums? I guess that is the problem. Cos downloading music illegally is super easy right now.

Sales of All 50 Cent's Albums (U.S Alone)

When it comes to monumental record sales, no one did it better than 50 Cent when he was at the top of his game. His debut album, Get Rich or Die Trying has sold 15 million copies to date, worldwide. Wit this post, I want to list his catalog of 4 albums, and what they have individually sold in America to date.

Get Rich or Die Trying (2003)- 9 million copies to date

The Massacre (2005)- 5.2 million copies to date

Curtis (2007)- 1.3 million copies to date

Before I Self Destruct (2009)- 500k copies sold

Data gotten courtesy of RIAA


I will update this at the end of the year, after his next two albums, Animal Ambition and Street King Immortal drop.

List Of Jay-Z's Gold & Platinum Certifications

Jay-Z is definitely one of the most successful rappers in Hip-Hop history, and one thing I like about him is that he has been consistent with his success his whole career. Jay-Z might not have an album that sold 10 million copies, but all his albums are platinum certified (sold over a million copies). And his success also spread to every collaborative project he did...whether it was with R.Kelly, or Linkin Park...or Kanye West.















Check out a list of all the Gold (over 500k copies sold) and Platinum certifications that Jay-Z has gotten through his 16 year career.