Tha Carter III - Commercial Performance

Commercial Performance

With opening day sales figures of approximately 423,000, the album sold 1,005,545 copies in its first week in the United States. With its first week sales, it is the largest first week sales for any album in 2008 in the United States and the first album to reach the million mark in one week since 50 Cent's The Massacre (2005). Tha Carter III has also reached the top spot in the Canadian Albums Chart, selling nearly 21,000 units. Elsewhere, the album achieved moderate success, entering at only number 23 in the UK and number 34 on the Irish Album Chart. In the album's second week, it sold a reported 309,000 copies, helping Tha Carter III towards becoming Lil Wayne's most successful selling album to date.

Tha Carter III had sold approximately 2.88 million copies in 2008, after selling another 985,000 and 964,000 in two week span week June 24–July 8 and well over 697,000 the following week in a 7 day span, becoming 2008's best-selling album. By the end of 2008, it was named the best-selling album of the year in the United States by Billboard. On February 12, 2009, the album was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), following shipments of three million copies. As of July 2011, it has sold 3.6 million copies in the US.