Kanye Crushes 50 Cent In Huge Album Sales Week

September 18, 2007, 8:35 PM ET
Geoff Mayfield, L.A.

Kanye West's "Graduation" (Def Jam) easily leads the star-studded class of Sept. 11 releases, posting The Billboard 200's largest sales total in more than two years. Nielsen SoundScan will show West's album moved 957,000 during its first six days when the tracking service refreshes its charts tomorrow morning (Sept. 19).Also pumping album volume are 50 Cent's "Curtis" (G-Unit/Interscope), which will lock down the No. 2 slot with 691,000 sold. Kenny Chesney's "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates" (BNA/Sony BMG Nashville) will bow at No. 3 with 387,000 copies.The total for West's "Graduation" is the largest by any album since 50 Cent's "The Massacre" opened with 1.1 million copies in March 2005. West's own August 2005 album, "Late Registration," was the last album to surpass 800,000 copies when it began with 860,000.While West beats 50 Cent in the celebrated clash between rappers, the real winners are music merchants. With the "High School Musical 2" soundtrack at No. 4 selling 133,000 copies, the top four titles alone account for 2.2 million units, more than all titles combined on last week's entire Billboard 200.West's new album ranks 15th among all sales weeks since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking in 1991. The double punch provided by "Graduation" and "Curtis" also marks just the second time in that era that two albums have bowed in the same week with totals surpassing 600,000 copies.

The last such occasion was in September 1991, when Guns N' Roses' "Use Your Illusion II" led The Billboard 200 with 770,000 copies in the same week that the band's companion album "Use Your Illusion I" bowed at No. 2 with 685,000, a pair of numbers now beaten by West and 50's totals."Graduation" also rings up the largest week yet by a digital album download, starting with 133,000, beating the prior record of 102,000, set earlier this year by Maroon 5's "It Won't Be Soon Before Long."50 Cent and Chesney will occupy the same ranks on Top Digital Albums as they do on The Billboard 200, the former with 58,000 downloads and Chesney's with 36,000. Nielsen SoundScan has been tracking digital sales since midway through 2003.Chesney's overall total of 387,000 copies marks the largest sales week for a country album since the May 2006 arrival of Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way," which opened at 526,000 copies.

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It looks like 50 Cent might be retiring at the ripe old age of 32.The Queens, N.Y., rapper announced a few weeks ago that if his new album, "Curtis," did not outsell Kanye West's new collection, "Graduation," during their first week in stores that he would call it quits as a solo recording artist. Kanye West blames MTV for Britney Spears' VMA performance
Well, both albums hit the shelves Tuesday, and early results suggest that 50's sales aren't as big as his words."If 50 is true to his word, we won't have any more 50 Cent albums," Carl Mello, a director of buying at the East Coast music retail chain Newbury Comics said.Mello said "Graduation" was outselling "Curtis" by 200 copies at the 27-store chain. headquartered in Brighton, Mass. "If you look at 50's whole brand, with all the G-Unit people, they haven't done anything that's excited people in a long time."At Amoeba Music in Hollywood, store music buyer Kristen Frederick said: "For every 50 Cent CD we sell, we sell two Kanyes."That can't be pleasant news for 50 Cent, who touched off quite a tempest last month when he told the website SOHH.com: "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on Sept. 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but I won't put out any more solo albums."50 Cent has been locked in feuds through the years, but even he has been candid that this time he was merely stirring the pot. In an interview with KROQ-FM (106.7), for instance, he chuckled when asked if there was any bitterness behind his words.The stunt has certainly caught the attention of the media and landed 50 Cent and West on the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone, which has them posed like glowering heavyweights at a boxing press conference.50 Cent has history on his side. West, 30, has strong critical acclaim and robust sales, but his numbers have lagged behind 50 Cent's. West's 2005 album, "Late Registration," sold more than 900,000 copies in its debut week, while 50 Cent's "The Massacre" topped 1.4 million its first week in stores.It looks as if neither of the hip-hop heroes will come close to their past retail fireworks, a situation driven by the realities of CD sales in the diffused marketplace of 2007.An Amazon.com spokeswoman said the site will be tracking sales for each album via a graphic on its music page all week. At midday Tuesday, West was outpacing 50 Cent more than 2 to 1.And the Chicago-bred West was also hitting his "rival" where it hurts, outselling him at key stores in 50 Cent's hometown."It's probably at 3 to 1, with Kanye outselling 50 with our sales so far," Carl Alvarez, urban buyer for the Virgin Entertainment Group, said. "I anticipated 60% of people picking up both, but we anticipated Kanye selling more."The albums are coming at a down time for hip-hop. While overall music sales are down about 18% compared to last year, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, rap sales have declined at an even greater rate. Hip-hop sales slumped more than 20% coming into 2007, and there was not a rap artist among 2006's 10 top-selling albums, according to Geoff Mayfield, Billboard magazine's director of charts and senior analyst.Many hip-hop supporters have been banking on the return of the two stars as a shot of new energy into the scene. Retail sources put initial ship-outs on both albums at approximately 1.2 million copies, making it nearly impossible for either artist to come close to selling seven figures. Best Buy senior vice president Gary Arnold is hopeful that each rapper will sell in the "half-million-unit" range."We're probably a little stronger on the Kanye side of things, due to our customer base," Arnold said. "Kanye's base seems to be a little broader than 50's base, so if I have to anticipate results, I'd probably give the nod to Kanye this week."Actually, the rappers may be locked in a race for No. 2: Country star Kenny Chesney released "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates" on Tuesday as well. Chesney's singles "Don't Blink" and "Never Wanted Nothing More" are already hits on country radio, and he's sold more than half a million first-week copies before.."It wouldn't surprise me if he sold more," said Billboard's Mayfield. "There's a bigger erosion in hip-hop sales than country sales this year. Even without that market condition, he's a big enough star to do handsome numbers."."