Who had the best-selling rap album of 2005?
On reflection, 2005 was a consequential year for rap music and its increasingly dominant place within the mainstream.
Right at the beginning of the year, in January, The Game released his first ever album, The Documentary, which went straight to number one on the American albums chart and proved, in general, to be a sensation. Common released his classic album Be in May, on the same day that Gucci Mane released his debut album Trap House.
Fat Joe, Canibus, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne all had albums drop throughout 2005, while Kanye West, with the release of his second album Late Registration, confirmed himself as a rapper that was destined to stay in the public eye for years to come. There were some huge rap releases that year.
But there was one rap album that blew all others out of the water. Coming off the back of his 2003 debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’, 50 Cent had become a global sensation. His follow-up, The Massacre, was awaited with much excitement.
But even though 50 Cent had become a hugely bankable star following the success of Get Rich or Die Tryin’, the context surrounding The Massacre was a troubled one. The situation was so unstable, in fact, that record execs at Shady Records and Interscope, which, along with Aftermath Entertainment and 50’s own G-Unit, were set to release the album, were deeply concerned that sales would take a bad hit.
50 Cent, as well as having become a massive star in his own right, was involved with The Game’s success, too, as The Documentary was released by G-Unit, as well as by Interscope and Aftermath. But even though he was sharing in the wild success of The Game at that time, the two rappers had big issues with each other.
The situation took a dark turn when 50 went onto Hot 97 radio, ostensibly to promote The Massacre, which was days away from release. But, on air, 50 took the opportunity to announce that he was dropping The Game from G-Unit. This did not go down well with The Game’s entourage, some of whom tried to gain entry to the radio studio.
The situation devolved and shots were fired, leaving one person injured. The violence of this incident threatened to derail the release of The Massacre, or so the record execs feared. But they were wrong. The album, like its predecessor, was a massive success.
The Massacre sold more than a million copies during its first week, becoming the best-selling sophomore album by an artist ever. That’s a record it still holds to this day. On Billboard’s year-end chart in ’05, it sat at the top of the list, while, over the following two decades, it managed to secure six-times platinum status. The Massacre was a massive album.