Dr. Dre, Music Icon And Entrepreneur, Hits 15 Million Record Sales

This is the millennium of Aftermath; It ain't gonna be nothin' after that; So give me one more platinum plaque.

The Billboard 200 chart is a ranking of the week’s most popular albums, as measured by a combination of album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

The latest issue of the ranking featured Dr. Dre’s "Dr. Dre — 2001" at the 195^th spot. However, some more interesting news came along with this issue: Dr. Dre’s album sales have now surpassed 15 million units. What makes this even more notable is that he has only issued three solo albums in his career.

According to Nielsen Music data, the former N.W.A member managed to cross the 15 million sales threshold before the end of July, mostly on the back of "2001’s" 7.9 million sales. His debut album, "The Chronic," contributed with another 5.9 million sales, while his more recent solo record, "Compton" only added 535,000 sales.

Compilations and archival releases accounted for the remaining album sales.

More Than A Rapper

According to Nielsen Music data compiled from 1991 forward, "2001" is the fifth-biggest selling rap album in the US, only trailing 50 Cent’s "Get Rich Or Die Tryin’" (8.4 million), Nelly’s "Country Grammar" (8.6 million), Eminem’s "The Eminem Show" (10.7 million) and Eminem’s "The Marshall Mathers LP" (11 million).

Dr. Dre isn't just your average rapper, though.

On top of being an extremely successful entrepreneur, who not long ago sold his Beats business to Apple Inc. AAPL, Andre Romelle Young is one of the most influential hip-hop producers of all times. Out of the top five most popular hip-hop albums, four involved Dr. Dre and his label Aftermath Entertainment, now owned by Vivendi SA (ADR) VIVHY. Only Nelly could do without Dre.

Image: Jason Persse, Flickr