In the age of rampant illegal downloading, Lil Wayne managed to score the biggest first-week sales of the year and his career with Tha Carter III. The sixth studio album from the New Orleans rapper sold 1,005,545 units to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Not only is Tha Carter III the best first-week sales of the year (besting Mariah Carey and Usher), it is also the biggest first week since 50 Cent’s Massacre (1.14 million) in 2005. Weezy also beats out Kanye West’s Graduation, which sold 957,000 copies the week of September 11, 2007.

Who would have imagined selling a milli out the gate in this economy? A big congrats to Wayne and Universal Records!

Watch a video below of Weezy celebrating the news and thanking his supporters. He signs off with, “Getting back to work, Carter IV.”

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