To say that this has been a good year for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis would be an understatement. 2012 has been an incredible year for the Washington State hip-hop emcee/producer team whose widely popular new, independently released album The Heist has been a top five hip-hop release at Amoeba since its October 9th release, and whose San Francisco concert tonight (Mon Dec 10th) at The Regency Ballroom, similar to other dates on the Seattle pair's current tour, sold out well in advance. Also this year Macklemore & Ryan Lewis got a feature on the cover of XXL’s Freshman Class of 2012.

After years of grinding away with recording and tirelessly performing the pair suddenly went from playing small clubs to headlining and selling out big halls like tonight's Bay Area show. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis managed to build their wide fan base with songs/videos like last year's hit  "Wings" (an excellent statement on consumerism) and the their viral hit "Thrift Shop:- the hilariously entertaining video featuring Wanz  (video below) which has racked up almost 28 million YouTube hits since its release three and a half months ago. Then there's the much talked about video for "Same Love (feat Mary Lambert)," which takes a stand against discrimination against gays and a stand for marriage equality. Since its release two months ago this video has grabbed nearly 9 million views. More importantly the powerful video has not only won high praise from many groups and individuals but it has instigated discussion and (often heated) debates on the topic.

1) Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.D City  (Aftermath)

2) Macklemore The Heist (Macklemore LLC)

3) P.O.S. We Don't Even Live Here (Rhymesayers)

4) Lupe Fiasco Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 (Atlantic)

5) MellowHype Numbers (Columbia/3 Ent)

This latest hip-hop top five chart from the San Francisco Amoeba store includes many of the same new releases that have been selling well in recent weeks at both the Berkeley and Hollywood Amoeba stores including Odd Future spinoff MellowHype Numbers , Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 - the sequel to the Chicago emcee's 2006 debut Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor, and Kendrick Lamar's universally popular major label debut Good Kid M.A.A.D City   on his mentor Dr. Dre's Aftermath label via Interscope. The album, which looks set to bring Compton back to the center of the rap map, is not only extremely popular at each of the Amoeba stores where it went straight to number one since its recent release but also across the nation. It debuted at No. 1 on both Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop and rap albums charts, and at No. 2 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart (Taylor Swift's latest mega-hit Red edged it out for the number one pop chart position).