Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III was one of this year’s most anticipated albums and it did not disappoint. The record dropped on Tuesday and, according to Billboard, sold 423,000 copies by the close of business. It is predicted to hit between 850,000 and 950,000 by the end of the week. This easily eclipses Mariah Carey’s E=MC2 (463,000) as the best opening week of 2008.

All of this comes after Tha Carter III was intentionally leaked to the internet at the end of May by a disgruntled DJ Chuck T, who was angry at Weezy for his comments in an interview that discredited mixtape DJs. Some industry analysts believe the leak actually helped first week sales by increasing exposure and excitement for the release.

The first single off the album, “Lollipop”, is in its fifth week at number one on The Billboard 200 with four more songs from the album set to join the charts.