Taking a shot at R&B with his new album 808s and Heartbreak, mega rap star Kanye West has locked in No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 with over 450,100 copies sold in his opening week.

According to the Nielsen SoundScan, Ye's fourth project followed in 2007's multi-platinum Graduation landing atop the charts for a third consecutive time. Unlike his previous discs known for various collaborations, the Grammy-winning rapper's new LP features only four collaborations by Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, Lil' Wayne plus Mr. Hudson and is led by popular hits "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown."

Fellow Def Jam labelmate Ludacris also debuted high on the charts this week with Theater of the Mind securing the No. 5 spot with 214,100 sold records. Following his Grammy-winning 2006 project, Release Therapy, and led by singles like "One More Drink," Luda's new album is highlighted by an assemble of guest appearances including The Game, T.I., Jamie Foxx, Chris Brown, Plies and more.

Despite not outselling Ye, the Southern rapper recently told his anticipation going head-to-head with Mr. West.

"I honestly felt great about it," Luda told. "Competition is one thing...this is my sixth album. You win some, you lose some. Who knows what's going to happen here but I feel like its going to be a winning day for the both of us."

Another big rapper making the charts this week is E-40 whose Ball Street Journal landed at No. 42 with over 30,700 albums sold. The Bay area icon tagged along a big list of collaborations for his 11th disc including Snoop Dogg, Akon, Bun B, Gucci Mane, Too Short, Ice T, T-Pain, Shawty Lo and more.