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Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” Goes Platinum After One Week

6/18/08, 9:10 am EST

In an age where albums struggle to sell a million copies in their lifespan, Lil Wayne’s much-anticipated and ultra-hyped Tha Carter III has gone platinum in one week of release, becoming the first album since 2005 to top a million units in its debut week. 50 Cent’s The Massacre was the last album to do so back in March 2005. In 2006, no album sold more than 800,000 in a week, and only Kanye West’s Graduation managed to crack 900,000 last year. Tha Carter III fared much better than its predecessor, as the Tha Carter II only sold 238,000 units in its opening week in 2005. To thank the fans and pretty much everybody else who helped TC3’s rise to the top, Weezy posted a hilarious “Thank You” video where the rapper equates his success to the book drives he used to have in school. Watch the video above. Check back later today for more from this week’s charts, and click below for more on how Lil Wayne parlayed a deluge of mixtapes into superstardom.

How Lil Wayne Became a Superstar


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Comments

JUJY | 6/18/2008, 2:28 pm EST

Weezy F Baby is the Best Rapper Alive & hands down this is his Year. I luv the way he does his Thang

JU JU | 6/18/2008, 3:17 pm EST

What a idiot he is

wtf | 6/18/2008, 4:16 pm EST

ehh..okay?

The Graveyard | 6/18/2008, 4:40 pm EST

Lil Wayne – 4.5 stars!

HAHAHahahahahahhahahaa …

AAAAhhahahahahahahaha…b ut seriously, wtf?

the cool | 6/18/2008, 5:00 pm EST

thats wat i thot it’d do. this album is by far the best album since lupe’s… rap needed an album like this for awhile…

thelrd | 6/18/2008, 6:29 pm EST

haha buddy , wezzy f babe , mr carter

Muldfeld | 6/18/2008, 8:16 pm EST

Wow. Half of that was unintelligible.

jr | 6/18/2008, 9:39 pm EST

wow, i can’t understand half a thing this idiot says.

and NO, lil wayne is NOT the best rapper alive. that award goes to Kanye West.

LOL Rolling Stone fails | 6/18/2008, 9:57 pm EST

What a bunch of idiots giving Lil Wayne’s new album 4.5 stars. That just screams failure. Retards don’t know anything about rap if they can claim this guy produces quality tracks.

Go lick his dick like a lollipop you assholes.

StuckPig | 6/19/2008, 12:12 am EST

This is ridiculous.

lweezy | 6/19/2008, 1:00 am EST

1,005,545 best rapper alive hands down stop hatin jump on the band wanging why u can LIL WAYNE CARTER 3 GO GET IT!

Chris | 6/19/2008, 3:56 am EST

I bought my copy!

mother | 6/19/2008, 9:22 am EST

how could you give an album that has 1 okay track 4.5 stars? and c’mon jr
kanye west?
best rapper alive is obviously talib kweli

JACKIE | 6/19/2008, 10:17 am EST

I LUV HATERS!! LIL Wayne IS MVP In my books, and if You think not Listen to his song Sky’s the Limit …
Say no More

Sslynn819 | 6/19/2008, 10:49 am EST

I been reppin Wayne since before the Carter 1! I knew he would b tha best, n see he is! To all yall that think hes not, I would LOVE for you to name someone else who has as many songs as he does. Mixtapes, Albums, who has been feat on as many songs as Wayne! Hes doin tha damn thang, n dont hate cuz u aint hate him. Hes doin wut he gotta do, Doin wut his fans and I love! Props for sellin a milli+ records in the first week! N he is soo fine!!! Gotta love him!

Sslynn819 | 6/19/2008, 3:58 pm EST

I’m an idiot and I don’t know how to spell correctly.

Chyeah | 6/20/2008, 1:00 pm EST

for all the haters out there: if the album isnt good, how did it go platinum in just one week, hmm idk it must be terrible

phillyrican | 6/20/2008, 7:32 pm EST

its a good album but he is not the best rapper alive come on now he a swagger jacker. hello losers he is a fake a phony him and baby. gillie created lil wayne duh. come on now who makes songs called lollipop. seriously lmao. eminem is the best rapper alive not lupe or talib or jayz.

phillyrican | 6/20/2008, 7:33 pm EST

its a good album but he is not the best rapper alive come on now he a swagger jacker. hello losers he is a fake a phony him and baby. gillie created lil wayne duh. come on now who makes songs called lollipop. seriously lmao. eminem is the best rapper alive not lupe or talib or jayz.

hype | 6/20/2008, 9:36 pm EST

Re: Chyeah | 6/20/2008, 1:00 pm EST

“for all the haters out there: if the album isnt good, how did it go platinum in just one week, hmm idk it must be terrible”

The reason the record went platinum is because of a) the unnecessary, undeserved hype and publicity surrounding the release b)hype around his mixtapes leading up to the release
c) suburban white kids who latch onto the latest trend and continue to act black “to be cool” when they’re really just posers but they keep this hip hop garbage in the record stores and d) because people will buy anything if it’s marketed right and all of you fans fell for the marketing-case and point-all this talk of wayne being the “best rapper alive” it’s been spoken and featured in publications so much that you’ve been indoctrinated and you actually believe that he’s the best rapper alive. In reality, this hack rapper who is the so called “messiah of hip hop” (”lollipop”-how insightful!) has said nothing that the next man hasn’t already said or done. There’s nothing original about this guy. He’s selling on hype and the gullible people who buy into the hype. Wayne’s a gimmick plain and simple. There’s your answer buddy.

blackbeauty | 6/20/2008, 10:34 pm EST

I bought the album and it is hott!! I will always support Wayne and he has been hot for about 12 years even when he wasn’t able to curse on tracks!! Wayne, I am proud of you and your success. Rep the N.O. hard because you are the best!!!

Fairman | 6/20/2008, 11:16 pm EST

To chyeah…..a record could sell a million and not be good because a couple singles could make a person go buy it…but when they buy it it could be trash….but i bought wheezys album and I like it.

slymester | 6/22/2008, 1:01 am EST

Wow look at the Wayne dick riders smh

bigdog1 | 6/23/2008, 7:53 pm EST

i think the carter 3 is a pretty solid album. if you dont like it FUCK YOU cuz no one cares what you think. i you didnt like weezy,why are you on this site devoting more of your precious time to a rapper that you claim is so horrible.Dont be a hater!!

dave 561 | 6/24/2008, 12:41 am EST

wayne is like the black eminem with his lyric’s.
the difference between the carter 3 and any other of his works it that this is an actual album. all the other stuff are just cd’s. this all flows and makes so much sense. and to the guy that says the album only sold bc of “white kids trying to act black” i didn’t know that you had to be black to like rap? its not acting black, its called being hip hop. Stop hating, when you can sell out all your concerts and sell over a million albums in a week, then talk all of your shit, but until then all of your bullshit isnt needed or even worth reading.

if you havnt got your copy of TC3, go get it. its deff. one of the best albums of 2008.

WhoCares | 6/24/2008, 11:25 pm EST

If i hyped myself up like that bitches would buy my shit too and i aint selling a damn thing!!! artists and i mean ARTISTS like maxwell, tamia, common talib people who have voices and not trends get looked over because everybody wants whats HOT whats poppin at the moment. if the shoes cost a G people will buy them if everyone is wearing them. I work at Nordstrom and it amazes me how many posers wanna come in and steal true religion jeans like they “just” started poppin???that shit is OLD. but people will do what the romans do. and if the romans like wayne then damnit bump the carter III until you can’t hear anymore! theres no since in arguing about his skills. he’s a business man. and its just business MAN.

precious p | 6/27/2008, 4:37 pm EST

yes lil wayne is making gud music but everybody hu knows hip hop can tell you that he is not the best rapper alive yet,ist just his time to shine. he is the hot rapper now.not the best rapper alive he hasent even reached nas level yet and they still hova hu is way up there

Lil Rob | 7/7/2008, 9:34 am EST

Fuck a damn gillie, if he so hot why he aint came out with shit thats on the radio, he aint even the best in Philly, Cassidy got that title! Wayne probably aint real but can rap, you gotta give him that. Gillie, seriously ur a disgrace to Puerto Ricans everywhere including myself!

yung8fa | 7/18/2008, 1:07 am EST

lil wayne is the shit and his album sales show it nobody doubted MJ for being the king of pop after selling millions of albums n his era and why knock lil wayne if it wasn’t 4 technology he would’ev probably went diamond naw just kiddn only MJ could hold tht record as best selling recording artist and its not abt if ur black

bam | 9/9/2008, 11:05 pm EST

lil wayne is one of the best rappers alive,so fuck the haters. but if you go look up los a millie remix on you tube and start listening to his other songs, youll see that this kids about to be on top. and by the way, the carter 3 did go platinum in its first week because waynes fans support him and not just beacuse of hype.

nyboricua | 9/16/2008, 9:08 pm EST

ok, wayne ain’t the best rapper alive(shady is: u guys forgot about him, jay ain’t fuckin wit him, renegade proved that, nas and busta r the closest after), but u gotta admit wayne has skills and potential that has not been used 2 it’s fullest, thank baby for dat. the man is shittin on wayne and he don’t even know it.alot u guys complain about wayne not being real because he exaggerated on an event in his life. what rapper u know has not done that? and u guys bitch aboutthings he says or do goes the opposite direction that. even pac contradictedf himself on many occasions and he was the reallest dude ever. if wayne can find the right dude to guide him and get him off the syrup he can make a legitamate claim as one of the best. i read alot of these comments and some of u dudes r just really ignorant when it comes to hip-hop knowledge. jr. resp: kanye best rapper alive? really now he ain’t even in the top 50. he can make hits but as an mc he is still growing and is nowhere near waynes level, he’s just a great producer and songwriter( i should know i have all 3 of his cd’s). kanye also bit the voice synthesizin/rap style that wayne invented(and no he did not bite it from t-pain, he just uses it to make it voice sound better. there r many rappers that i can name better than mr.west and wayne, remember the title is best rapper alive not dead or alive. some guys just are not mentioned because there era has passed and r no longer relevant. anyway i’m starting to pull away from the topic. weezy deserves his spot at the top right now, so all u guys that r misinformed do yer research, and those that r and still don’t agree yer just hatin, or your probably lookin for an mc that will bring back the good ol days of big n pac. those days will never come back and only a handful of mc’s still remind us of that time n whether u like it or not lil wayne is one of them. Oh and by the way

amberrr | 11/19/2008, 2:05 pm EST

I AGREE WITH THIS PERSON!
nyboricua
wayne&em are the best.
no questions asked.

caddydaddy | 1/2/2009, 2:49 pm EST

An Intellectual View on “The Best Rapper Alive.”:

To start, let’s just carefully consider the relevance of the title, “The Best Rapper Alive.” One must fully indulge on the fact that you are simply talking about rappers, as opposed to producers, singers, etc. In terms of rappers, Lil Wayne is among the top; given the fact that one considers a “good” rapper to be one who simply can rhyme any word, with any sequence, at any time, and make it sound like something worth purchasing. However, this is one small skill in a series of skills needed in making today’s hip-hop music. If one were to slightly change the question, and ask “Who is the best hip-hop artist of today?”, then the entire situation would be altered; which is why so many trivial arguments are being engaged upon. In this particular scenario, I believe that Kanye West would be the winner, simply because he has the talent needed to not only rhyme harmonically in sequences, but produce the beats himself. Kanye is a one-man team, with talent to create billboard toppers by himself if needed. Now, back to the point at hand. Both Kanye and Lil Wayne revolutionized the game tremendously, and have completely different styles. Though i believe that Wayne has a better handle on lyrics, Kanye is not far behind. Thus, it is safe to say that between Kanye and Lil Wayne, Wayne is the better of the RAPPERS. But again, The most important individual to the hip-hop genre, or the best over-all hip-hop talent, would have to be Kanye. Though everyone has an opinion, I have not seen anyone mention the fact that Kanye is less of a rapper, and more of an over-all hip-hop juggernaut.

Now on to this issue of “biting from T-Pain.”:
Let’s be honest: Kanye would not have used auto-tune if Lil Wayne had not introduced it to him. But continuing down a chain of honesty, Wayne likely would have used it in “Lollipop” had T-Pain never used it. This does not mean anyone is “biting” anything. People are simply taking ideas of predecessors, or feeding off of revolution. To paint a picture, let’s go back to Kanye and Lil Wayne. In title’s such as “Big Brother,” “Everything I am,” and “Flashing Lights,” Kanye raps extremely slow; the slowest until them. Go figure Wayne also raps extremely slow in his next album, TC3. This is just another way Kanye revolutionized the genre, as opposed to something that Wayne simply “bit” from West. Individuals simply should understand the difference between revolutions and idea theft. Rappers are now simply feeding off of each other with the auto-tune, a revolution created even before T-Pain.

dennis1880 | 1/26/2009, 1:25 pm EST

whoever said that eninem was better then jayz and nas are fucking crazy nas illmatic shits on everybody and so does the blueprint. i give wayne respect for the carter 3 it was a good album but he has to keep up the good work

bialey | 8/27/2009, 11:11 am EST

i think ur uhmazing!!!

Lil Wayne | 9/19/2009, 8:11 pm EST

wow he went platinum after a week well eminem went platinum in week two albums in a row and 50 want platinum in the first four days and the only people that think the album would of did sold more in a week if the music industry wasn’t so f***ed up are the same dumba**es that don’t by albums

Jayzdabomb | 9/27/2009, 2:26 pm EST

Jay Z has 10 platinums

He’s da best rapper

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