J. Cole’s third album debuts at #1 and becomes the biggest first-week seller of the year from any Hip Hop 
artist.
Congratulations to J. Cole! He must be feeling on top of the world right about now, as his newest album nabbed the No.1 spot on the Billboard 200. Yes, folks, the numbers are in, and it’s celebration time for J. Cole, now that we know that his recently released third studio album 2014 Forest Hills Drive sold over 360,000 copies in its first week! That landed him the first spot on Billboard 200, beating even Taylor Swift’s 1989 album. J. Cole did some good work, apparently, because all of that came without releasing any singles, very little promotion, not to mention that the Roc Nation rapper announced the album less than a month ago. All this following even earned J. Cole the highest selling Hip Hop album in 2014. And despite all that, he remains as humble and as unapologetic as ever. Check out his tweet on the matter below and share your thoughts.
The #’s are humbling. It’s a win for all artists and fans and a clear message to the industry. No singles no features. Stop serving trash
— J. Cole (@JColeNC) December 17, 2014
Top 10 Billboard Top 200 Rap & R&B Albums For The Week Ending 12/14/2014
Note: The figures below represent this week’s “total activity,” an intersection of album sales, single sales, and streams. A pure album sales figure is available in parenthesis and information about each album’s streaming count is available in brackets.
#1. J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive – 371,228 (353,538) [10,984,761]
#6. K. Michelle – Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart? – 87,140 (84,117) [1,578,410]
#25. Mary J. Blige – The London Sessions – 27,532 (26,398) [589,466]
#31. Chris Brown – X – 23,741 (15,877) [4,727,436]
#37. Eminem – ShadyXV – 21,019 (17,904) [2,082,585]
#44. Beyonce – Beyonce – 19,556 (11,436) [5,337,855]
#57. Pitbull – Globalization – 15,539 (10,216) [2,048,117]
#59. PRhyme – PRhyme – 14,188 (13,547) [249,667]
#61. E-40 – Sharp On All 4 Corners: 1 – 13,697 (11,770) [510,369]
#64. Rick Ross – Hood Billionaire – 12,543 (10,171) [1,505,176]
