The third time looks to be the charm for Lil Wayne as the rapper’s latest album, Tha Carter III, hits the platinum mark with more than 1 million copies sold.
The album sold 1,005,545 copies, a number which will be made official when Nielsen SoundScan issues chart reports today (June 18).
According to Katina Bynum, VP of Marketing for Universal/Motown Records, Lil Wayne’s is reaping the benefits of a rigid work ethic, which included numerous mixtapes, cameos and touring.
“At a time when the music industry is experiencing decreased sales, Wayne proves that with hard work and excelling at his craft, he is a true phenom crossing all genre’s of music,” Bynum told AllHipHop.com. “Wayne is the industry’s new Rock Star!”
The album puts Lil Wayne in the company of fellow rapper 50 Cent in terms of first week sales.
The G-Unit leader was the last artist to sell just over 1 million units in a single week when his second album, The Massacre, reached the milestone in March 2005 with 1.1 million copies sold.
Since then, no other artist has managed to accomplish the task.
The closest entertainer to do so was Kanye West, whose Graduation album debuted with 957,000 copies sold in its first week of release last year, after arriving in stores on September 11.
Tha Carter III’s showing surpasses Lil Wayne’s previous album Tha Carter II, which moved 238,000 copies upon its 2004 release while entering the Billboard 200 chart at No. 2.