Blueprint 3 First Week Sales Are In, Jay-Z Breaks Elvis' Record

Jay-Z’s 11th album, ‘Blueprint 3′ sold 476,000 copies this week, sending him straight to the top of the Billboard charts and breaking Elvis Presley’s record for the most number one albums from a solo artist. Suddenly, that “I’ll crush Elvis in his blue suede shoes” line doesn’t sound so arrogant. It’s by no means an easy achievement and the number itself surpasses his first week sales of ‘The Blueprint’ in 2001 which made 427,000.

Elsewhere, Raekwon’s ‘Only Built For Cuban Linx II’ came in at number four on the chart with 68,000 sold. The Beatles also hit the chart hard with their recently released remastered catalogue. They moved a combined 626,000 of their albums since their re-release on 9/9/09. The biggest seller was ‘Abbey Road’ which clocked in with 89,000 copies sold. Since Soundscan was introduced in 1991 to calculate album sales, The Beatles have never sold less than 1 million albums per year.

The New Zealand albums chart was also shook up by the group who took up 13 places on the top 40. The highest seller in NZ was also ‘Abbey Road,’ which landed at number eight. Expect them to continue dominating next weeks charts.