Sales of All Jay Z's Albums

It is phenomenal that all Jay Z's twelve studio albums are platinum...no other rapper in history has that much platinum selling albums. So, I have decided to list all his albums and what they sold individually, so we can analyze his growth.




Reasonable Doubt (1996)- 1.5 million copies sold

In My Life, Vol. 1 (1997)- 1.4 million copies sold

Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (1998)- 5.3 million copies sold

Vol. 3... Life and Times of S.Carter (1999)- 3.1 million copies sold

The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)- 2.5 million copies sold

The Blueprint (2001)- 2.7 million copies sold

The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Gift Curse (2002)- 2.1 million copies sold

The Black Album (2003)- 3.5 million copies sold 

Kingdom Come (2006)- 1.5 million copies sold

American Gangster (2007)- 1.1 million copies sold

The Blueprint 3 (2009)- 1.9 million copies sold

Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013)- 1.2 copies












So, what made Jay Z sell so much with the Vol. 2 album? I guess it was that Annie song- Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem). That song was a super cross-over hit; even though jay kept it raw with his raps, the Annie hook made the song cross over and get played on a lot of non hip hop radio. And it might interest people to know that it was actually Jay Z's first platinum selling album...what if he had given up after album number 2?