Nelly makes music history with simultaneous releases

Jet, Oct 11, 2004

Grammy Award-winning rapper Nelly has done it again. Last month he made history as the first hip-hop performer and the first Black to release two separate CDs on the same day, Sweat and Suit (JET, Sept. 13).

Making history once more, the St. Louis native's historic feat paid off big when he be came the first hip-hop performer and first Black to debut in the top two slots of both the big chart and Billboard's R&B/hip-hop albums chart.

Suit, the more mellow CD, was No. 1, selling 396,000 copies the first week, while Sweat, the funky dance CD, was No. 2, selling 342,000 copies.

The CDs sold a combined 738,000 copies, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan. They outsold first-week sales for his second 2002 album, Nellyville, which sold 714,000 copies its first week. To date Nellyville has sold more than 6 million copies.

Nelly also made JET Magazine history as the first artist to ever have two albums simultaneously on the JET Top 20 Albums chart to rank No. 1 and No. 2.

White heavy metal group Guns N Roses was the first group in history to release two separate albums on the same day, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, in 1991. The group made history again when both projects debuted in top slots, No. 1 and No. 2, on music charts as well. Bruce Springsteen released two separate CDs on the same day, Human Touch and Lucky Town, in 1992, but they debuted at No. 2 and No. 3.