Tamar Braxton Sets New Record On R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart With ‘Love and War’
Four R&B sets debut in the top 10 of Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums lead by Tamar Braxton's "Love and War" at No. 1 with 114,000 copies.
Four R&B sets debut in the top 10 of Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums lead by Tamar Braxton’s “Love and War” at No. 1 with 114,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The youngest sibling of R&B icon Toni Braxton first appeared on the list with “Tamar” (No. 42 debut and peak) on April 8, 2000. 13 years and five months later, Braxton sets the female record for longest time between an initial chart listing and a first No. 1 in this chart’s SoundScan era (December 1992 to present). The record was previously held by Angie Stone, who waited eight years and two weeks (1999-2007).
Related
On the Adult R&B airplay chart, Braxton’s title track to “Love and War” spent nine weeks at No. 1 while follow-up “The One” ranks at No. 3 after spending the prior two weeks at No. 2.
John Legend enters at No. 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums with “Love in the Future” shifting 68,000 to mark his sixth overall top 10 set. All three of his previous non-collaborative studio sets reached No. 1 — “Get Lifted” (116,000 in its debut week, 2005), “Once Again” (231,000 in 2006) and “Evolver” (133,000, 2008). Legend has also charted a pair of albums with the Roots, with “Wake Up!” peaking at No. 3 in 2010.
One step below Legend this week is veteran crooner Jaheim, who posts “Appreciation Day” with 58,000. This is his seventh appearance on the chart — dating back to his 2001 debut “[Ghetto Love]” — all but one of which reached the top 10. The current set’s lead single “Age Ain’t a Factor” returns to its peak of No. 2 on Adult R&B this week.
The new debuts push down Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” 3-4 on the albums’ list despite it rising 3% to 57,000. Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience” (4-5) also falls one spot to close out the top five in spite of its 3% gain to 38,000.
The fourth new R&B set to enter the list’s top 10 this week is Raheem DeVaughn’s “A Place Called Love Land” at No. 9 with 19,000 copies. This is the singer’s fourth consecutive top 10 album behind “The Love Experience” (No. 9 peak in 2005), “Love Behind the Melody” (No. 1, 2008) and “The Love & War Masterpeace” (No. 3, 2010).
On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” reaches its 14th week at No. 1. It is now one week shy of the chart’s Nielsen-era record of 15 weeks set by Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You” in 2006. Jay Z’s “Holy Grail” (3-2) steps back to its peak position as does Drake’s “Hold On, We’re Going Home” (4-3). The latter cut earned airplay and streaming gainer awards with a 25% gain to 73.3 million listener impressions and a 17% lift to 2.7 million U.S. streams, according to Nielsen BDS.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis retain the No. 5 and 6 slots with “Same Love” and “Can’t Hold Us” in their 37th and 42nd weeks, respectively. Robin Thicke’s “Give It 2 U” holds onto the No. 7 position while Sage the Gemini’s “Gas Pedal” steps 9-8 in its eighth week.
J. Cole picks up his sixth top 10 hit on the list as “Crooked Smile” (featuring TLC) jumps 12-9. His best showing on the list remains last year’s “Nobody’s Perfect” which peaked at No. 3. Big Sean closes out the top 10 with “Beware” stepping 11-10 in its ninth week. This is his sixth trip to the region.