This week, Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2 landed in the #1 spot on Billboard’s Top 200. The project was followed on the charts by Drake’s Nothing Was The Same at #2 and Lorde’s Pure Heroine at #3.

Lorde, a 16-year-old singer, landed in the third spot thanks to her album’s lead single, “Royals,” a hit that appears to criticize extravagance. Lorde recently spoke with Spotify about the track and how it can relate to her appreciation for A$AP Rocky. “You see, at that time I’d been listening to a lot of Lana Del Rey and a lot of A$AP Rocky because I love Rap, that crazy money and opulence and extravagance,” Lorde said. “But I also know it’s all total bullshit.” During the same interview, Lorde spoke about Kanye West’s influence on her work. “I’d been listening to Kanye West and there’s a track called ‘Dark Fantasy’ where he says, ‘found bravery in my bravado’ and I liked that idea of false confidence delivering real confidence. In reality I’m a super-shy, contained, non-confrontational person, but I was about to step into a line of work – a line of art – where everyone would be watching me, and everyone would want to talk to me and confront me.” This line of work has allowed the young singer to land just behind Drake and Timberlake on this week’s chart, with Pure Heroine selling more than 129,000 units in its first week.

Nelly was another artist who debuted his new album this week. The project, M.O. opened at #14 selling more than 15,000 units. Nelly spoke about the release during a September interview with Complex. “I’m excited that I get a chance to do a seventh album,” Nelly said. “Also, being 14 years later, being able to do a lot of great things in 14 years and represent somewhere that a lot of people don’t get to represent, especially in the music business and definitely in the Hip Hop game.” Nelly’s last project, 2010’s 5.0, sold more than 63,000 units its first week. Nelly, upset with these results, criticized his label at the time, Universal/Motown, for its management of the project, as per stltoday.com. Nelly’s debut album, 2000’s Country Grammar, sold more than 235,000 units in its first week.

Justin Timberlake Lands At #1 With The 20/20 Experience, 2 Of 2

Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2 debuted at #1 in its first week, as projected. The album moved more than 350,000 units. Timberlake has spoken about the creation of this album, a project done with Timbaland producing all of its songs. “We’ve never done it like this,” Timberlake said in an August promo for the album, which is a follow-up to the duo’s last album, The 20/20 Experience, released in March. “We usually take our time and I felt like it would drive the creativity in a different way to have to feel like we had to sprint every day and it would hyper-focus us…If you’re lucky enough to have the ability to wait and do it when it inspires you, you owe it to yourself to do it when it’s the only thing you can think about when you wake up in the morning and at night thinking about it,” he continued. “That sense of desperation, that’s what brings out passion. And really, passion to me is all that matters.” Timberlake’s fans perhaps saw that passion and helped this disc land at the top of the charts. Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience has sold more than 2,310,000 units to date. The album has been out for 29 weeks. It jumped from #37 to #11 this week.

Drake’s Nothing Was The Same Falls To #2 In Its Second Week

In its second week, Drake’s Nothing Was The Same landed at #2. The project, which debuted at #1 last week, sold more than 147,000 copies to earn its place just below Timberlake’s 2 of 2. Drake’s album, which received a 4 out of 5 rating in HipHopDX, is the follow-up to 2011’s Take Care, which opened with 631,000 units in its first week. Drake is also a guest on the #1 album of the week, Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2. Drake appears on Timberlake’s “Cabaret.” In August, Timberlake talked about having Drake as a guest on his album during an interview with New York radio station Hot 97. “The Drake thing was a song that was sitting around and I just heard him on it,” Timberlake said. “Drake and I have been trying to get at each other about doing a record. I think we’ll probably end up doing more as time goes by as well.” Drake’s Nothing Was The Same now has more than 806,000 units moved to date.

Deltron 3030’s Event 2 Enters The Top 41

Deltron 3030’s Event 2 entered the charts this week at #41, selling more than 8,000 copies in its first week. After 13 years, Deltron 3030 followed up on its self-titled debut. The group, which consists of Del the Funky Homosapien, Dan the Automator and Kid Koala premiered the project online in September, allowing listeners to stream the project in its entirety. The disc, released via Bulk Recordings, features several guests, including Black Rob, Rage Against the Machine’s Zach De La Rocha and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 10/06/2013

#1. Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience, 2 of 2 – 350,000 (350,000)

#2. Drake – Nothing Was The Same – 148,000 (806,000)

#3. Lorde – Pure Heroine – 129,000 (129,000)

#11. Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience – 18,000 (2,310,000)

#14. Nelly – M.O. – 15,000 (15,000)

#26. Jay Z – Magna Carta…Holy Grail – 12,000 (1,015,000)

#28. 2 Chainz – B.O.A.T.S. II #MeTime – 12,000 (126,000)

#40. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist – 8,000 (1,096,000)

#41. Deltron 3030 – Event 2 – 8,000 (8,000)

#44. MMG – MMG Presents: Self Made Vol. 3 – 8,000 (74,000)

#57. Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city – 6,000 (1,052,000)

#62. Juicy J – Stay Trippy – 6,000 (120,000)

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

Will Pusha T land at #1 next week? Stay tuned to HipHopDX.

Last Week’s Album Sales.

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