Despite a recent leak of his latest album, Cash Money Records rapper Lil Wayne is expected to sell one million copies of Tha Carter III.
Billboard reports that the Cash Money/Universal release could reach the milestone by the time SoundScan closes out its tracking week on Sunday (June 15) night.
The last album to sell one million copies in a week was G-Unit frontman 50 Cent’s sophomore project The Massacre, which sold 1.1 million units upon its March 2005 release.
On Thursday (June 12), Tha Carter III boasted unweighted sales at 630,000, the largest number the SoundScan Friday Building chart has seen since it began in September.
Rapper Kanye West produced a similar result when his album, Graduation, moved 600,000 copies the Friday of its release.
The Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam album ended up selling 957,000 units in its first full week on store shelves.
News of Tha Carter III reaching the one million mark comes as Lil Wayne enjoys the success of his number one single “Lollipop” and follow-ups “A Milli” and “Got Money.”
Although the album is proving to be a success, its status was doubtful after Lil Wayne angered mixtape DJs when he spoke out against them during a recent interview with The Foundation Magazine.
Offended by the rapper’s remarks, DJ Chuck T intentionally leaked the album and encouraged fans to download the album for free instead of buying it in stores.
Lil Wayne and Universal declined to pursue the matter regarding Chuck T’s leaking the album and the rapper later clarified his remarks and apologized to the DJs during an appearance on DJ Drama’s Shade 45 Sirius satellite radio show.