After crushing Elvis in his blue suede shoes last week, Jay-Z retains the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 with The Blueprint 3. This week also features notable debuts from Kid Cudi and Drake.


Jay’s 11th studio album The Blueprint 3 moved 298,000 copies (down 37% from 476,000) in its second week, propelled by high-profile appearances on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards and “The Jay Leno Show.”

Whitney Houston held strong and did not crumble as her comeback album I Look to You rose one spot to No. 2 with a healthy 156,000, up 77% from the week before. She can thank her much-publicized appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” for the boost. I Look to You has sold 548,000 copies to date.

Not even Kanye West’s VMA tantrum could deter fans from picking up ’Ye’s protégé Kid Cudi’s debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, which lands at No. 4 with 104,000 units.

Buzz so big, he could even repackage and sell a mixtape. Drake’s seven-song EP, So Far Gone, makes its way in at No. 6 with 73,000, setting the bar high for his full-length debut Thank Me Later, due in early 2010.