Ashanti was the R&B superstar of the early 2000's; Her style and grace gave the music industry a urban American superstar. Ashanti dropped her self titled debut album in 2002 which distributed through Island Def Jam via Murder Inc. Her self titled debut album was No. 1 in the US, No. 3 in the UK and No. 5 in CAN; the album also is certified Platinum by RIAA selling 6 million copies world wide. The album also earned her a Grammy in 2003 for Best Contemporary R&B album. The albums hit single Foolish spent 10 weeks at the top of Billboard's Hot 100. Ahsanti was the second artist since the Beatles to have first 3 chart entries in the top ten of the Hot 100 simultaneously.
Ahsanti dropped her second album Chapter II in 2003. Repeating great success hitting the Billboard 200 at No. 1, selling 326,00 copies in its first and being certified platinum by the RIAA. The album went on to sale a total of 1.5+ in the US. One of the albums most popular singles Rock wit u (awww baby) peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the other single Rain on me peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2004 Ashanti was still on top of the music industry after having so much success. She then dropped her 2004 project Concrete Rose. Concrete Rose was another successful album that Ashanti could add to her resume. The album debuted at No. 7 in the US, sold 254,000 copies in its first week and certified platinum by the RIAA. After great success in the world of R&B Ashanti slowly disappeared from the music game. Some would still say we can blame it on CEO of Murder Inc. whom was under investigation by the FBI for money laundering. Ashanti's label inevitably crumbled from the outcome of those criminal charges against her former CEO Irv Gotti and his brother Chris Gotti.
Ahsanti managed to come back around in 2008 with her fourth studio album The Declaration which only sold 86,000 copies in its first week and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200. The album to this day has sold a total of 260,000+ copies and was released through The Inc. (formerly known as Murder Inc. which was attempting a lengthy comeback. Ashanti's has yet to release a fifth studio Braveheart which debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200. The album was released under the labels Written Entertainment and eOne Music. It was her fifth consecutive top ten album.