Kanye Tops U.S. Billboard Chart, 50 Shouldn't Be Ashamed
Written By: DJ "Z"
The highly-anticipated and much debated sales match between
Kanye West
and
50 Cent
is over. The victor was announced late Tuesday evening and ladies and gentlemen, please rise in ovation for your winner:
Kanye West
.
According to final totals, West’s
Graduation
finished with a first-week total of
930k
, a sales mark that tops his own
Late Registration
(which sold 860k after its 2005 release). While
Fiddy
was unable to beat out West, the East Coast powerhouse has nothing to be ashamed of, as his third studio album
Curtis
tallied
660k
.
Although sales in support of 50’s new album are well below the totals for each of his prior releases’ first week numbers, the 660k units sold are the
second highest amount
of the 2007 calendar year (Linkin Park previously held the mark at 625k).
Claims that each artists’ label purchased albums to boost first week numbers aside, the entire “
battle
” was kept predominantly clean and actually has provided a much needed boost for the entire music industry as a whole.
It looks as though when
Hip-Hop
comes in first, the music industry doesn’t have to retire after all.