Two thousand and eleven was a good year for hip hop, having seen a surge of album releases from some talented young guns as well as few timers too. In both the local and international circles these albums, whether legendary or complete flop, made for an interesting musical atmosphere and even more interesting insight into the status of the business of music in these times. And since we haven’t developed system to monitor record sales in our good ol’ country yet, we at HYPE have decided to bring you the figures of the international albums that shook the industry a little. In the words of the Jigga man himself: “Men lie, women lie; numbers don’t.”  Enjoy

The Carter 4 – Lil Wayne

Release date: 29 August 2011

First week sales – 964 000

Current status: Double Platinum

Take Care – Drake

Release Date: 15 November 2011

First week sales – 631 500

Current status (as of December 2011): Platinum

Watch the Throne – Jay-Z and Kanye West

Release date: 8 August 2011

First week sales – 436 000

Current status (as of December 2011): Platinum

Cole World: Sideline Story - J Cole

Release Date: 27 September 2011

First week sales- 218 000

Current status (As of December): 485 000

Rolling Papers – Wiz Khalifa

Release date: 29 March 2011

First week sales (As of November 2011) – 197 000

Current status (As of November 2011): 606 000 (Gold)

Bad Meets Evil – Eminem and Royce 5-9

Release date: 13 June 2011

First week sales – 171 000

Current status (As of December 2011): 641 000

Ambition – Wale

Release date: 1 November 2011

First week sales – 164 000

Current status (As of December 2011): 293 000

Finally Famous – Big Sean

Release date: 28 June 2011

First week sales – 87 000

Current status (as of December 2011): 248 000