After more delays than a space shuttle launch, Compton rapper the Game will finally have his reward next week when his endlessly pushed-back fourth effort, The R.E.D. Album, debuts at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. According to figures provided by SoundScan, the disc moved just under 98,000 copies, enough to grab the top spot but well below the first-week figures for his 2008 album LAX, which opened with 239,000 in sales.

Either way, it’s just enough to beat out Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne, which drops to #2 in its third week, as sales dove 47 percent to 94,000 for a three-week total just north of 707,000. Among the new entries in the top 10 is a Barbra Streisand collection, What Matters Most — Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman (#4, 66,000), the debut from country supergroup Pistol Annies, Hell on Heels (#5, 44,000), which consists of Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley, and Muppets: The Green Album (#8, 30,000), with modern interpretations of the lovable puppets’ songs by OK Go, Weezer, My Morning Jacket, Amy Lee of Evanescence and the Fray.

The rest of the top 10: Adele’s 21 (#3, 82,000), NOW 39 (#6, 44,000), Luke Bryan’s Tailgates & Tanlines (#7, 35,000), Jason Aldean’s My Kinda Party (#9, 29,000) and Eric Church’s Chief (#10, 24,000).

• News
• Audio
• Video
• Albums
• The Game rapper