If only Notorious B.I.G. was alive today, he could be relishing his album’s success on the Billboard charts. Sadly, only his fans and family can rave about this. What about? It’s the late Notorious B.I.G.’s “Greatest Hits” album topping The Billboard 200 charts (for the second week of March) and selling 99,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Soundscan. This achievement is the rapper’s third chart-topper and his second posthumously. The “Greatest Hits” album features two unreleased tracks – “Running Your Mouth” and “Want That Old Thing Back.” What’s also great about this is that B.I.G.’s album was the strongest of the five debuts on The Billboard 200 top ten. Notorious B.I.G. was born Christopher Wallace and was murdered 10 years ago on March 9, 1997.
Another feat worth noting here is that of the top ten albums that made it to The Billboard 200, five are debuts. This is said to be a record first since November 2006. Following Notorious B.I.G.’s album at the second spot is the album released by Arcade Fire, a rock group based in Montreal. The hard rock band Korn is at the ninth spot with their seventh top 10 hit “MTV Unplugged” which sold 51,000 copies. Korn previously topped the chart with their 1998 album “Follow the Leader” and 1999’s “Issues.”
For the second straight week, no albums sold 100,000 copies but album sales went up two percent from last week’s total of 8.66 million units.
