T.I. Likely To Debut At Number One With Paper Trail

When Nielsen SoundScan releases the weekly sales report, T.I.'s Paper Trail [click to read] will likely occupy the number one spot. Nielsen's Building chart, shows Tip's sixth solo effort at 357,000 units sold through the close of business Friday (Oct. 3). After selling such a significant amount of copies after only being available for three days, Paper Trail will likely compete with Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III for the highest-selling Rap/Hip Hop album of the year.

According to Billboard magazine, Nielsen SoundScan's Building chart is comprised by retailers which account for 80% of all domestic album sales. Trans World Entertainment, Best Buy, Circuit City, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target, Anderson Merchandisers and Handleman Co. all send their sales figures to the Building chart.

All indications were that Paper Trail would chart well, since the single "Whatever You Like" is currently capping an eight-week stay on the Billboard Hot 100 by occupying the top spot. Should Paper Trail debut at number one it will be the third consecutive time T.I. has released a chart-topping album. In 2006 King had first-week sales of 522,000, while T.I. Vs. T.I.P. debuted in 2007 with 468,000 copies sold.