Third time’s a charm, right?

Coinciding with Wale‘s widely publicized Jordan 3 shopping sprees at New York City’s Flight Club, was the release of his third album–pun, or clever correlation clearly intended–on the tails of possibly his career’s biggest hit. Now, add the number one album in the country to that list of accomplishments, and there you have 2013 for Wale. ‘The Gifted’, powered by the singles “Bad”, “Bad (RMX)”, and “LoveHate Thing”, is on pace to sell just over 150,000 copies in its first week on the shelves, pushing it to the number one spot.

Wale’s last two albums, despite considerable critical acclaim, fell short of the elusive feat. His debut, Attention Deficit, was severely under-shipped by Interscope Records, leading to Wale’s departure from the label. Ambition, his MMG debut and official arrival to mainstream radio, did very well in its first week, selling over 160,000 copies in its first week, but was undermined by Justin Bieber’s holiday release, Under The Mistletoe. This year, with no pop culture sweetheart in his way, Wale takes the top spot.

-Khari Nixon (@KingVanGogh)