Why ‘Tha Carter III’ Was Top Successful Album of 2008

So, 2009 is almost upon us. That means, surely, it’s time to start working through this years releases and see what people think is the “best” album for 2008.

Certainly one of the biggest selling releases this year was Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III”. It went platinum in the first week, and double platinum in the first month. He picked up a World Music Award for best rapper, with the album selling over 3 million units world wide.

The real question though, is why? What made this album a “must buy” for so many people? One might argue that by working with almost anyone “who’s anyone” didn’t hurt. And having Timbaland, Kanye, Jay-Z, Babyface, Busta Rhymes, T-Pain (and a host of others on the album), either as featured artists or producers can’t hurt. Also consider that Wayne seemed happy to take up literally everyone that offered him a feature. This certainly served to keep his name out there, even when he hadn’t put out a major release in three years.

The album was originally meant to be released in 2007, and for a number of reasons it was pushed back to 2008. Then some of the original material was leaked all over the place, which was probably the biggest reason the release was rescheduled (although some haters will tell you it could have had something to do with 50 Cent’s album being set for release the same day). Either way, the Leak as an interim release was a great preview of the masterpiece to come, and probably helped to create some hype about the official release of Tha Carter III.

In terms of marketing, the mixtape scene has been a great option for artists to “prime the pump” before a major release, although few (if any) have given away as much of their music as Wayne has. But it’s hard to tell if giving so much away has done him any favors because there comes a point where over-saturating a marketplace becomes detrimental.

One of the factors that some people have attributed to the sales success of the album is something that Wayne had absolutely no control of: The new button on iTunes to “complete this album”.  The button allows people that have previously bought singles, to download the full album when it becomes available. I couldn’t tell you personally if this was a huge factor, or how many people bought Lollipop as a single and upgraded that when the album was released, however some industry types tell me that it made a difference, and I’m not going to argue.

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