The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJ) continues to make history this week with the highest debut of a first-time female artist as Ashanti sells 502,524 copies of her self-titled debut album to be the #1 sellingalbum in the country, on both the Top 200 and R&B charts, while her single, “Foolish,” tops the nation’s Hot 100 Singles and R&B Singles & Tracks charts.
Moreover, The Island Def Jam Group scored four records in the Top 10, achieving one of the biggest market shares of current new albums by any record label so far with 14.3% for the week ending April 7, 2002 (source: Soundscan).
Propelling this winning momentum was the #1 smash debut of Ashanti’s self-titled album with, which more than doubled the first week sales of such peers as Alicia Keys and Tweet. This impressive debut is no surprise as Ashanti recently made Billboard history by being the first female artist to have three singles (“Foolish”, “What’s Love” w/Fat Joe and Ja Rule’s “Always on Time”) in the Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 chart at the same time.
Rounding out the Top 10 is the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou (#5), The Best of Both Worlds (#6), the historic collaboration between Hip-Hop superstar Jay-Z and R&B king R. Kelly, and Ludacris’ Word of Mouf (#9).
