Leave it to 50 Cent to ruin Jennifer Lopez's rebirth.
With leaks and bootleggers forcing Fiddy's label to move up the release of The Massacre, J.Lo suddenly had no chance of giving Rebirth a chart-topping entry into the world. Officially hitting the retail racks last Thursday, The Massacre didn't even need a full sales week to give the rapper his second million-copy chart opening.
For the week ended Sunday, The Massacre topped the Billboard 200, selling an astonishing 1.14 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. If not for The Massacre's bumped-up release date, Lopez would have been tops, with Rebirth moving 261,000 copies.
Fiddy, who also broke recorded 872,000 first-week sales of 2003's Get Rich or Die Tryin', made history last week as the first solo to land three singles simultaneously in the Top 5 since SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991. His "Candy Shop" was number one and "Disco Inferno" was number five, while his collaboration with the Game on "Ho We Do" sat in number four.
The Game and Fiddy's cozy relationship seemed to implode last week, when 50 Cent ousted his Compton-born protégé from G-Unit, calling the Game treasonous for not backing Fiddy's beefs with other rappers. Moments after 50 Cent made the announcement onair at New York's Hot 97, one of the Game's associates was shot outside the radio station. After a week of posturing, the two emcees decided to make amends at a joint press conference Wednesday in New York.
"Game and I need to set an example in the community," Fiddy said in a statement Wednesday, which also marks the eighth anniversary of Notorious B.I.G.'s murder. Added the Game, "It's going to be a positive thing for both sides."
At the press conference, Fiddy also announced the launch of a new charity organization, the G-Unity Foundation. Both artists will make charitable donations to benefit the Boys Choir of Harlem and the Compton Unified School District Music Program. The new charity will serve as a counterpoint to the rapper's just-announced videogame, 50 Cent: Bulletproof, which, per a press release, allows gamers to embark "on a bloody path through New York's drug underworld."
As for the Game, his debut disc, The Documentary, currently sits at number five, having sold just under 100,000. Previous to Fiddy's monster first week, the rookie rapper held the best sales week of 2004 when his debut sold 587,000 copies back in January.
Aside from 50 Cent outgunning J.Lo, there were two other newcomers impacting the charts. Jack Johnson opened in the three spot, with In Between Dreams, selling 229,000, a personal best. The L.A. duo Mars Volta followed at four, moving 123,000 of Frances the Mute, featuring the alt-rock hit "The Widow."
The rest of the Top 10 were all holdovers: Green Day's American Idiot at six, Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company at seven, last week's number one, Omarion's O, at eight, Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway at nine and Eminem's Encore and 10.
Judas Priest just missed the Top 10 but still made a triumphant return as Angel of Retribution sold more than 57,000 copies at 13. Jamie O'Neal's Brave charted at 40, and Pimp C's Sweet James Jones Stories came in at 50.
Further down the charts, the Doves' Some City opened at 111, outselling Pastor Troy's Face Off Part II by just eight copies. Both discs sold just north of 10,000 copies.
Here's a recap of last week's Top 10 albums:
1. The Massacre, 50 Cent
2. Rebirth, Jennifer Lopez
3. In Between Dreams, Jack Johnson
4. Frances the Mute, Mars Volta
5. The Documentary, The Game
6. American Idiot, Green Day
7. Genius Loves Company, Ray Charles
8. O, Omarion
9. Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson
10. Encore, Enimem