Jay-Z, Kanye West Take Top Spot With ‘Watch the Throne’

Jay-Z and Kanye West scored a No. 1 chart position with the release of their highly-anticipated joint album, 'Watch the Throne,' landing at the top spot on the Billboard 200. The duo's effort totaled 436,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

While some hip-hop fans may question the lower than normal numbers -- Hov's last release, 2009's 'Blueprint 3' sold 476,000 copies in its first week while 'Ye's 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy' came in at 496,000 -- the tallies are a result of just three official physical sales days, considering the Throne's LP was launched exclusively on iTunes from Aug. 8-11 before the Aug. 12 push to digital and physical retailers -- downloads of the project came in at 321,000.

The No. 1 sales accomplishment is Jay-Z's 12th of his career. He also holds the record for most No. 1 albums as a solo act. With this effort, Yeezy earns his fifth album to sit atop the Billboard charts.

'Watch the Throne,' which was preceded by the buzz track 'H.A.M.' and spawned the hits 'Otis' and 'N----s in Paris,' garnered the second-largest sales week of 2011 thus far. Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' holds the reigns with 1.1 million copies sold back in May.