Lil Wayne returns to the top of chart with almost a million sales

Rapper Lil Wayne is back on top of the album charts after picking up first-week sales of over 964,000 for his new release Tha Carter Iv.

It marks the biggest week for a hip-hop album or any release by a male artist since Wayne hit the top spot with Tha Carter III in 2008.

It's the year's (11) second biggest debut behind Lady Gaga's Born This Way, which broke through one million sales.

And it extends rap's domination at the top of the charts - Kanye West and Jay-Z's Watch The Throne and The Game's R.E.D. have shared the number one spot for the past three weeks.

Lil Wayne's latest number one will become official when the Billboard 200 countdown is released on Wednesday (07Sep11).