Lil Wayne just got himself some more platinum to add to that blinged-out grill of his.
The boastful Cash Money hip-hopster banked sales of 1 million copies for his long-awaited Tha Carter III, the first album in more than three years to break the seven-figure ceiling, per Nielsen SoundScan, and Wayne's first No. 1. The MC, who calls himself the world's greatest rapper, will have those bragging rights for the time being.
As evidence of its anticipation, the album sold 423,000 copies in its first day alone. So far this year, only two other albums have sold more copies than that in an entire week.
Tha Carter III ranks as the 14th biggest sales week of all time, and it's already the No. 3 bestseller of the year. Just one week out, trailing Mariah Carey's nine-week-old E=MC2 by just 17,000 copies. (Jack Johnson's Sleep Through the Static is No. 1 with 1.2 million in sales to date.)
The last albums to break the million-copy mark were 50 Cent's The Massacre (1.14 million) in 2005, and Usher's Confessions (1.1 million) and Norah Jones' Feels Like Home (1.02 million) in 2004.
Lil Wayne's sweet success also extends to his hit single "Lollipop," which has become the fastest-selling ringtone of all time. The song, currently atop the Hot 100, has spent five of the past eight weeks there. Since 2006, Flo Rida's "Low" and Soulja Boy's "Crank That" are the only rap singles to spend more time at No. 1.
After releasing five albums in six years, Lil Wayne (real name: Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.) spent the past three years working on Tha Carter III and growing his fan base through mixtapes and cameos. Most notably, the rapper released four double-disc mixtapes, The Drought Is Over 1-4, and made over 100 guest appearances.
At No. 2, Plies sold 215,000 copies of Definition of Real, mirroring the starting position of his 2007 debut, The Real Testament. The prolific rapper already plans to release his third album, Da Realest, in December.
Three more albums also cracked the top 10: the Neptunes' rock project N.E.R.D. sold 80,000 copies of Seeing Sounds at No. 7; Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette's first album since her split with Ryan Reynolds, sold 70,000 copies at No. 8; and acclaimed Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket sold 49,000 copies of Evil Urges at No. 9.
Only 237 copies separated Montgomery Gentry's Back When I Knew It All and Emmylou Harris' All I Intended to Be, which each sold around 27,000 copies at Nos. 20 and 22, respectively.
Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan debuted at No. 24 with 24,000 copies of his first solo album, Seeing Things. (In comparison, the Wallflowers peaked at No. 40 with their last album, 2005's Rebel, Sweetheart.) The genetically gifted singer recorded his solo debut with Rick Rubin, taking a stripped-down approach similar to the producer's acclaimed work with Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond.
Further down the chart, Scottish rockers the Fratellis sold 10,000 copies of Here We Stand at No. 80.
Meanwhile, over on the U.K. charts, Coldplay's Viva la Vida rocketed to No. 1 on Monday, selling 302,000 copies in just three days. On this side of the pond, the new album, which already sold more than 1 million digital copies of its title track, will make its Billboard 200 debut next week.
Thanks to Lil Wayne, sales are up nearly 23 percent compared to last week and up over 4 percent compared to the same sales week last year when Toby Keith topped the charts.
A recap of the top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday:
1. Tha Carter III, Lil Wayne
2. Definition of Real, Plies
3. Now That's What I Call Music! 28, various
4. Indestructible, Disturbed
5. Here I Stand, Usher
6. Revelation, Journey
7. Seeing Sounds, N.E.R.D.
8. Flavors of Entanglement, Alanis Morissette
9. Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket
10. Weezer, Weezer