the charts

J. Cole Has the No. 1 Album (Because Jay-Z’s Sales Don’t Count Yet)

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 30: Recording Artist J. Cole attends the 2013 BET Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on June 30, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for BET)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 30: Recording Artist J. Cole attends the 2013 BET Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on June 30, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for BET) Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Jay-Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail is already platinum, but it does not feature on this week’s Billboard “200,” since the magazine decided not to count his million presold albums. So J. Cole’s three-week-old Born Sinner gets the No. 1, with Wale’s The Gifted dropping to No. 2 and Kanye’s Yeezus all the way down at No. 3. It’s also worth mentioning that Born Sinner has now outsold Yeezus (439,000 copies to 431,000, total), and that MCHG could outsell both of them in its first official week. Vaguely related: This is how Jay-Z pronounces Yeezus.

J. Cole Has the No. 1 Album in America