Lil Wayne Sells 964,000 Units of ‘Tha Carter IV’ in First Week

Initially projected to sell somewhere between 700,000 and 850,000 copies of his comeback album 'Tha Carter IV,' Lil Wayne has surpassed expectations for first week sales, racking up an impressive 964,000 albums sold, according to Nielson SoundScan.

'Tha Carter IV' marks Wayne's third career No. 1 solo album, following 'I Am Not a Human Being,' and 'Tha Carter III,' and earns the Young Money rapper the highest sales week for any male artist since 'Tha Carter III' moved 1.01 million back in 2008.

The only album that passed Weezy's in total sales this year was Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way,' which moved 1.11 million units with the help of a two-day AmazonMP3 99-cent sale, which sold 444,000 downloads. Without a major discount, 'Tha Carter IV' still managed to sell 362,000 albums digitally, notching the second-highest digital album sales week of all time, behind Gaga's 662,000 sales of 'Born This Way.'

Speaking with MTV's Sway Calloway on his Shade 45 Sway in the Morning satellite radio show, Cash Money founder Baby explained that moving 964,000 copies was the same as a million, in his mind. "People doin' different numbers," Baby conceded. "But this comes from Billboard. To me, that's a million. 964, we right there, so it's cool. We'll just keep grinding, I guess."

Fans of Lil Wayne likely to spit out 'Tha Carter IV' lyrics may want to check out eMusic's list of 20 Profoundly Meaningless Lyrics by the 28-year-old rap star here.

With Wayne's ninth album finally in stores, the Cash Money/Young Money team are preparing to begin shifting focus to their next big release, which is Drake's sophomore record, 'Take Care,' scheduled for an Oct. 24 release date.