On the charts: Lil Wayne’s ‘Carter IV’ misses million-seller club

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With his latest release, ‘Tha Carter IV,’ Lil Wayne wasn’t able to match the million-plus bow of his 2008 effort, ‘Tha Carter III.’ However, the fourth edition in the series far from disappoints, at least from a sales perspective, with ‘Tha Carter IV’ debuting atop the U.S. pop chart after selling 963,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Lil Wayne also owns three of the top-20 selling digital singles, led by his ‘Mirror’ at No. 6 with Bruno Mars. That cut sold 150,000 downloads this week, while ‘Blunt Blown’ is at No. 14 with 73,000 downloads sold, and ‘How to Love’ is at No. 20 with 68,000 downloads sold. In between release of the third and fourth editions of ‘Tha Carter,’ Lil Wayne dropped lesser-received efforts -- the rock-influenced misstep of 2010’s ‘Rebirth’ and that same year’s ‘I Am Not a Human Being.’

The return of Lil Wayne puts local vets the Red Hot Chili Peppers at a distant No. 2 on Billboard’s top 200, as ‘I’m With You’ sold 223,000 copies in its first week. The Billboard archives remind us that 2006 effort ‘Stadium Arcadium’ debuted at No. 1 with 442,000 copies sold.

Other notes from this week’s chart:

Adele’s ‘21,’ meanwhile, continues its strong performance. The album is at No. 3, adding an additional 151,000 copies to its total this week. To date, it has sold 3.3 million copies in 28 weeks on the chart. To put that in perspective, Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter III’ has sold just under 3.6 million copies since its release three years ago.

Also new to the top 10 this week are efforts from David Guetta, as his ‘Nothing but the Beat’ lands at No. 5 after selling 56,000 copies, while country’s Jake Owen is at No. 6 with ‘Barefoot Blue Jean Night.’ Only a few hundred albums sold separate Guetta and Owen.

Locally, rapper Game slips out of the top spot to No. 8. His ‘R.E.D. Album’ sold 39,000 copies this week, giving it a total of 137,000 copies sold. Electronic pop act Foster the People is hovering just outside the top 10, as ‘Torches’ rests at No. 12 this week. With an additional 29,000 copies sold, the album has moved a total of 250,000 copies. Single ‘Pumped Up Kicks,’ however, continues to climb, as the cut is at No. 2 on the digital songs chart with 218,000 copies sold.

ALSO:

Album review: Lil Wayne’s ‘Tha Carter IV’

Foster the People: Pumped up, indeed

Album Review: Game’s ‘The R.E.D. Album’

-- Todd Martens