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.