Kanye West: Champion on the Charts

The people have spoken in the much-hyped battle between 50 Cent and Kanye West. West wins with a first-week total of 957,000. That tops his last album Late Registration, which debuted at #1 in August 2005 with 860,000.

Although he won’t claim the #1 spot, 50 can still hold his head high after selling 691,000 copies, which represents the second-largest one-week total of the year. Collectively, ‘Ye and 50 sold 1,648,000 records in one week.

“I am very excited to have participated in one of the biggest album release weeks in the last two years. Collectively, we have sold hundreds of thousands of units in our debut week. This marks a great moment for hip-hop music, one that will go down in history,” said 50 Cent.

Kanye also weighed in with his thoughts: “I was the underdog because I sold less records in the past, so it was a win-win for me.”

Congrats to both men for keeping things exciting and showing that hip-hop is still alive and strong.