The living rap legend has scored his eleventh no. 1 album with his latest disc The Blueprint 3 and surpassed his sales projections by over 125,000 copies.

As previously reported, industry insider hitsdailydouble.com placed Jay-Z at around 300-350,000 for his first week sales, but according to Nielsen SoundScan, the rap megastar sold closer to 475,700 units. This is no small feat as Jay’s last album American Gangster sold 425,800 units in a much sunnier sales climate. The Brooklyn-bred MC was everywhere promoting BP3, with a star-studded 9-11 benefit at Madison Square Garden airing live on Fuse, a performance with Alicia Keys at the MTV VMAs and interviews on everyone from Oprah to Bill Maher to Stephen A. Smith.

Fellow New York vet Raekwon also made an impressive debut this week. The Wu-Tang rapper’s sequel to the 1995 classic, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, landed at the no. 4 spot, selling 67,600 copies in its first week.

Climbing four spots up the charts to make it back into the top 10 is the Black Eyed Peas. The group’s latest disc The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) sold 10,000 more albums this week than last week, earning them a seat at no. 7. The group moved 43,500 units in their 14th week, making their grand total stand at 1,071,100.

Falling 16 spots to no. 24 is Pitbull. The Miami rep’s latest disc, Rebelution sold 17,800 CDs this week, making his two-week stats stand at 59,100.

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