Get Rich or Die Tryin best selling album of 2003

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,13203,00.html

 

50 Cent Cashes in on 2003

 

by Joal Ryan

 

Here's another stat for shot-nine-times rapper 50 Cent's collection: One. As in, number one.

 

The 27-year-old's solo debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin', was 2003's best-selling album, with 6.5 million copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

 

In topping the charts, 50 Cent (born Curtis Jackson) did the boss proud. Shady Records CEO Eminem (born Marshall Mathers) was 2002's champ, moving 7.6 million copies of The Enimen Show, as well as 3.5 million copies of the 8 Mile soundtrack.

 

50 Cent contributed two tracks to the latter collection. His own album was powered by the single "In Da Club," radio's second-most played song of the year after 3 Doors Down's "When I'm Gone." It also didn't hurt that the rapper's backstory--i.e., getting plugged with nine bullets in front of Grandma's house in 2000--was imminently memorable.

 

Mr. Cent's remarkable comeback aside, it was another down year for the perennially downcast music business. CD album sales were down 2 percent, from 649.5 million jewel boxes sold in 2002 to 635.8 million in 2003. Overall album sales (presumably including the cave people who still buy audio cassettes and LPs) were down 3.6 percent.

 

Indicative of the industry's doldrums, these numbers actually represent hope, in that they weren't as lousy as usual. CD album sales in 2002, for example, were off 9 percent from the previous year. Apple's iTunes was one program credited with helping consumers reacquaint themselves with the quaint tradition of buying music. The download service, launched in April, had sold a whopping 25 million songs, at 99 cents a pop, through mid-December.

 

On Friday, the honor of most-downloaded iTunes tune went to OutKast's Polaroid-shaking "Hey Ya!" The Grammy-nominated single helped power the hip-hop duo's double-solo CD, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, to 3.1 million albums sold, the fifth-biggest hit of the 2003.

 

OutKast could cash in even more if its six Grammy nominations translate into big Grammy wins. At least that's how it worked for jazz baby Norah Jones, who upset Bruce Springsteen for Album of the Year honors at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards and went on to sell 5.1 million copies of Come Away with Me. (Since its 2002 release, Jones' collection has sold nearly 8 million.)

 

Other 2003 top performers included: Beyoncé, whose solo debut, Dangerously in Love, sold a lot (2.5 million copies), if a lot less than Destiny Child's last two R&B albums; teen queen Hilary Duff, who segued from the Disney Channel to Disney Radio with Metamorphosis (2.4 million copies); and Toby Keith, the year's top-selling country act for his take-no-prisoners Shock'n Y'All (2.3 million copies).

 

Controversy in the form of kiddie-porn charges didn't keep R. Kelly out of the Top 10 for his new album, Chocolate Factory (2.4 million). Controversy in the form of child-molestation charges didn't help Michael Jackson return to the Top 10 with his new greatest-hits collection, Number Ones (with just 121,000 copies sold in its debut week).

 

In the battle of the American Idols, 2002 winner Kelly Clarkson's Thankful passed the 2 million mark; 2003 runner-up Clay Aiken's Measure of a Man neared the 2 million mark; 2003 winner Ruben Studdard's Soulful, released just two weeks ago, edged toward the 1 million mark; and 2002 runner-up Justin Guarini's Justin Guarini fell off the face of the Earth (not to mention the roster of its record label), with 135,000 copies sold through mid-December.

 

Pre-American Idol idol Britney Spears' In the Zone was certified double platinum, indicating 2 million copies sold, by the Recording Industry Association of America, as was Celine Dion's One Heart. Demonstrating how the mighty have fallen, though, neither release came close to challenging the two pop tarts' SoundScan-era blockbusters--Dion's Falling Into You (10.6 million copies) and Spears' ...Baby One More Time (10.5 million).

 

Madonna's American Life proved to be no match for The English Roses as a sales force. The latter was the M One's New York Times best-selling children's book; the former was her latest album which topped out at fewer than 2 million copies sold.

 

Also limping along, Limp Bizkit, with about 1 million copies sold of Results May Very, a long way down from the 7 million-selling days of 1999's Significant Other. To add insult to injury, Fred Durst's outfit was named worst band of the year in a new poll of Guitar World readers.

 

Among artists on the comeback trail: Luther Vandross' Dance with my Father, released just weeks after he suffered a stroke, was a certified platinum-seller; Metallica's St. Anger and Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow were certified double-platinum releases.

 

Here's a complete rundown of 2003's Top 10 best-selling albums, per Nielsen SoundScan:

1. Get Get Rich or Die Tryin', 50 Cent, 6.5 million copies

2. Come Away with Me, Norah Jones, 5.1 million

3. Meteora, Linkin Park, 3.5 million

4. Fallen, Evanescence, 3.4 million

5. Speakerboxx/The Love Below, OutKast, 3.1 million

6. Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé, 2.5 million

7. Chocolate Factory, R. Kelly, 2.4 million

8. Metamorphosis, Hilary Duff, 2.4 million

9. Shock'n Y'All, Toby Keith, 2.3 million

10. Rush of Blood to the Head, Coldplay, 2.2 million

[MrRant 0]

I am still suprised R. Kelly has a career.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I am surprised Norah Jones did so well. Anyone else listen to her album? The first single wasn't too bad, but I wasn't intent on listening to the hype of the media about it being great, since they're usuall wrong on such matters.

 

For as much as people 'round these parts bash rap, 50 Cent and Outkast had albums in the top ten that blew all the "rock" albums in said list a-way in terms of quality.

[Henry Spencer 0]

Controversy in the form of child-molestation charges didn't help Michael Jackson return to the Top 10 with his new greatest-hits collection, Number Ones (with just 121,000 copies sold in its debut week).

 

This is the first I've heard of this. No wonder it didn't sell, since it apparently got minimal publicity.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

For as much as people 'round these parts bash rap, 50 Cent and Outkast had albums in the top ten that blew all the "rock" albums in said list a-way in terms of quality.

 

Well, when your competition is Linkin Park, it ain't that hard of a thing to do...

[2GOLD 0]

Stupid, stupid double post...anyway a mod could shoot this horse of a post so only the one below it remains?

[2GOLD 0]

Most of the people in the top ten are extremely talented

 

Well, cept for Hilary Duff.

 

And 50, despite not being my style of music, is a very good rapper.

 

OutKast should easily get two or three Grammy's for "Hey Ya" cause that song is awesome and easily the song of 2003.

 

But Norah Jones...talk about a quiet sell. I didn't even know she released a new album.

[Cartman 0]

Yay for Linkin Park and Evanescence

[haVoc 0]

But Norah Jones...talk about a quiet sell. I didn't even know she released a new album.

She didn't. "Come Away With Me" was released in 2002. But this year alone she sold 5.1 million of that album.

 

It makes me happy to see some one like Norah Jones or a band like 3 Doors Down be able to hang with the TRL artist up there in success.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

For as much as people 'round these parts bash rap, 50 Cent and Outkast had albums in the top ten that blew all the "rock" albums in said list a-way in terms of quality.

 

Well, when your competition is Linkin Park, it ain't that hard of a thing to do...

Well, yeah. Just trying to say, that for most people who knock mainstream rap and the like, to look at mainstream rock and realize that it's not much better off. In fact, it's a lot worse.

[Guest mesepher]

For as much as people 'round these parts bash rap, 50 Cent and Outkast had albums in the top ten that blew all the "rock" albums in said list a-way in terms of quality.

 

Well, when your competition is Linkin Park, it ain't that hard of a thing to do...

Well, yeah. Just trying to say, that for most people who knock mainstream rap and the like, to look at mainstream rock and realize that it's not much better off. In fact, it's a lot worse.

modern music is a sick puppy

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

I'm happy for 50 Cent & R. Kelly since I like both those CD's, but most of all for Outkast.

 

That's my pick for album of the year and hopefully it cleans up at the grammies.

[MrRant 0]

But Norah Jones...talk about a quiet sell. I didn't even know she released a new album.

She didn't. "Come Away With Me" was released in 2002. But this year alone she sold 5.1 million of that album.

 

It makes me happy to see some one like Norah Jones or a band like 3 Doors Down be able to hang with the TRL artist up there in success.

3 Doors Down is horrid.

[SamoaRowe 0]

Seeing as I own Linkin Park, 50 Cent, Outkast, and Evanescence, this is a rare year when my musical investments have done so well.

[snuffbox 0]

But Norah Jones...talk about a quiet sell. I didn't even know she released a new album.

She didn't. "Come Away With Me" was released in 2002. But this year alone she sold 5.1 million of that album.

 

It makes me happy to see some one like Norah Jones or a band like 3 Doors Down be able to hang with the TRL artist up there in success.

3 Doors Down is horrid.

and they make me sick...literally, seriously.

 

 

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

For as much as people 'round these parts bash rap, 50 Cent and Outkast had albums in the top ten that blew all the "rock" albums in said list a-way in terms of quality.

 

Well, when your competition is Linkin Park, it ain't that hard of a thing to do...

Well, yeah. Just trying to say, that for most people who knock mainstream rap and the like, to look at mainstream rock and realize that it's not much better off. In fact, it's a lot worse.

modern music is a sick puppy

Mainstream music was never all that great, unless you like go back to the sixties or something, although I am a big fan of the early nineties alternative stuff, that isn't really all that much of an alternative when you sell like five million copies. Whatever.

 

I agree, 3 Doors Down overcoming MTV did surprise me whomever said that, because 3 Doors Down is like one of those bands *on* MTV.

[Guest El Satanico]

For as much as people 'round these parts bash rap, 50 Cent and Outkast had albums in the top ten that blew all the "rock" albums in said list a-way in terms of quality.

 

Well, when your competition is Linkin Park, it ain't that hard of a thing to do...

Well, yeah. Just trying to say, that for most people who knock mainstream rap and the like, to look at mainstream rock and realize that it's not much better off. In fact, it's a lot worse.

A great majority of posters in this folder aren't fans of mainstream rock either.

 

A great majority of posters in this folder aren't big fans of mainstream music period.

[razazteca 0]

I am still suprised R. Kelly has a career.

Why are you surprised? R.Kelly's videos are on all music channels on heavy rotation.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Great to hear about 50 Cent hitting it big.

 

Norah Jones winning FIVE Grammys was a fucking joke.

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

I am still suprised R. Kelly has a career.

Why are you surprised? R.Kelly's videos are on all music channels on heavy rotation.

Hey, I fully admit to still being a fan of his music. I don't care what the tabloids or anyone says.

[SamoaRowe 0]

I don't pay attention to whether or not the music i like is mainstream or not. I don't listen to radio or watch MTV so whatever I find myself listening to is good enough for me.