Hip-Hop album sales are declining at a rapid pace and there have been no platinum-selling Hip-Hop albums in 2014, yet. Should the Hip-Hop industry be worried about this huge decline?
Album sales as a whole are on its biggest decline in history since Nielsen Soundscan first began tracking sales back in 1991 and the Hip-Hop industry is especially suffering from this downward trend. The last Hip-Hop album to reach platinum status was Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP 2 released in November of 2013 which sold 2.2 million. Prior to Eminem’s MM2, Drake’s Nothing Was The Same released in September of 2013 also saw two million in sales. Rounding out 2013 was Kanye West’s Yeezus released in June of 2013 and Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail released on July 4th, 2013. Both also passed platinum sales. However, none of the above reached three million.
Popular Hip-Hop artists who all dropped albums in 2014 and were expected to reach platinum sales like Jeezy (Seen It All), The Game (Blood Moon: Year of the Wolf) and Wiz Khalifah (Blacc Hollywood) all failed to do so. With Lil Wayne set to release his highly anticipated Tha Carter V album, we’re hoping to see an end to this downward trend. That’s a lot of pressure on Lil Wayne but we know he can do it!
