Well, the final tally is in, and despite my prediction, not only did Kanye beat Kenny Chesney, but so did 50 Cent.
The official numbers are in and Kanye West's album Graduation has emerged as the United States' #1 album on the Billboard Top 200 Charts. West's album Graduation moved over 957,000 copies its first week in stores, besting 50 Cent's album Curtis, which sold 691,000 copies.Well whoop de-damn do! Kanye outsells 50 by nearly 300,000 copies. We all thought we were witnessing (in the words of one sage 106th and Park host) "a moment in hip-hop history". If only folks could get so excited about stuff that actually makes a difference, like you know, voting.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, West also earned the largest opening-week sales total in over two years, since 50 Cent's album The Massacre opened with 1.1 million copies in March 2005. Billboard reports that Graduation also snagged the largest week for a digital album download with 133,000 copies, breaking the record of 102,000 set by the Maroon 5's album "It Won't Be Soon Before Long."
50 Cent, self-proclaimed marketing genius, says the whole thing was rigged, and Roc-A-Fella records bought copies of "Graduation" to pad Kanye's numbers. He also says that despite prior promises of retiring if he lost, he's staying the game. The NY Times claims this amazing sales week has "saved the music industry".
I'm sure the masses will tout this as a victory of substance over style, real hip-hop over gangsta rap, pseudo intellectualism over crass prison culture. Bull. Shit.
The real winner here is General Electric. If you're somehow unaware, they own Universal Records. Universal Records owns Island Records and Interscope, which own Def Jam/Rocafella and Aftermath/Shady respectively.
Talk about a Grand Hu$tle.
So (as always), score one for Capitali$m. The Man wins either way you dice it.
Jeffrey R. Immelt is smiling inside, and Laughin' Straight to the Bank wit' this. Ha. Ha. Ha. Haaaaaa.
Kanye West Bests 50 Cent in Album Sales [AP]
