Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 12/9/2012

Wiz Khalifa nearly grabs a #1 with "O.N.I.F.C." as Wu-Block stays strong on the Top 200.

The key addition to the charts this past week was courtesy of Wiz Khalifa.

The DXnext alum and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania emcee's O.N.F.I.C. was within striking distance of a #1, but fell just shy of Taylor Swift for a #2 debut. This matches Wiz's first release with Atlantic Records, last year's Rolling Papers, which sold over 50,000 more units than the sophomore.

Last week's Wu-Block also remained on the charts, along with the likes of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Alicia Keys, Machine Gun Kelly and Ne-Yo.

Wiz Khalifa's O.N.I.F.C. Is First Class

The leader of the Taylor Gang released his second solo album with Atlantic (following a string of independent projects). O.N.I.F.C. (Only Nigga In First Class) was led by a six-month single in "Work Hard, Play Hard" followed by "Remember You." The Rostrum Records flagship artist maintained personnel on his Rolling Papers follow-up, working with I.D. Labs, Jim Jonsin and Stargate on production.
The album, selling approximately 141,000 first-week units, featured wife Amber Rose, along with appearances by Wiz's usual cast of Rap veterans, this time including Juicy J, Cam'ron, Pharrell and 2 Chainz.

Wu-Block Back For A Second Round

The Wu-Block project, led by Ghostface Killah and Sheek Louch, sold another 4,000 units in its second week at retail. The Staten Island and Yonkers delegates brought in members of their crews on various songs from the project. Notably absent from the Wu is RZA, both as a vocalist and producer, as well as U-God, while Erykah Badu appears on the Termanology-produced "Drivin' Around." Other producers of note include Erick Sermon and Red Spyda.

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 12/9/2012

#2. Wiz Khalifa - O.N.F.I.C. - 141,000 (141,000)
#6. Alicia Keys - Girl On Fire - 77,000 (237,000)
#11. Rihanna - Unapologetic - 59,000 (369,000)
#24. Cee Lo Green - Cee Lo's Magic Moment - 30,000 (77,000)
#30. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city - 25,000 (481,000)
#44. The Weeknd - Trilogy - 14,000 (145,000)
#56. 2 Chainz - Based On A T.R.U. Story - 11,000 (428,000)
#67. Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded The Re-Up - 9,900 (749,000)
#72. Meek Mill - Dreams & Nightmares - 9,300 (266,000)
#152. Wu-Block - Wu-Block - 4,200 (13,000)

* data comes from Nielsen Soundscan, rounded to nearest thousandth for units above 10,000, nearest hundredth for units below 10,000. Each week, HipHopDX presents top albums in Hip Hop/related, and five notables.