Kanye West dominates 50 Cent by over 260,000 units

NEW YORK – It’s not like Kanye West needed an ego boost, but here it comes, anyway: His “Graduation” album trounced 50 Cent’s “Curtis” in their much-hyped rap sales showdown, selling nearly 1 million copies in its first week, making it the best debut of the year for the struggling music industry.\nWest has sold about 957,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures posted by the industry Web site Billboard.com on Tuesday night. It was his best first-week sales ever and topped the year’s previous first-week champ, Linkin Park, who sold 623,000 copies of “Minutes to Midnight” when it debuted in May. In comparison, 50 Cent sold 691,000 copies of “Curtis.”\nDespite his victory, West was hardly rubbing it in 50’s face. In fact, he said he was humbled by the win.\n“We’re not gloating,” Def Jam President Jay-Z told The Associated Press. “He’s celebrating his win. ... in his mind, he believed he could win the whole time.”\nThough selling almost 700,000 copies in the first week was a sterling achievement, it was still a considerable letdown for 50 Cent. His last album, 2005’s “The Massacre,” sold 1.1 million in its first week. In fact, West’s “Graduation” has been the only other album to come close to those sales since.\n50, who is planning a world tour to promote his album, was conciliatory in defeat. In a statement to The AP, which didn’t address whether he planned to make good on his threat to retire, he said, “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.”\nBut while West is enjoying a No. 2 position on the charts with his hit “Stronger,” 50 has struggled to connect with radio. None of his songs has matched past smashes like “In Da Club”; even his single “Ayo Technology,” featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, is languishing at No. 19.\n50’s album was originally scheduled for release in June on Interscope Records, a division of Universal Music Group, but was pushed back to Sept. 11. Soon after, Kanye West, whose album was supposed to come out sometime in late summer, pushed his album’s release date to Sept. 11 as well. But Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman of Island Def Jam, also a division of Universal, says it wasn’t initially intended to be a jab at 50.\n“The decision was really driven by the (MTV Video Music Awards), because the VMAs were on Sept. 9 ... We wanted to use it as a launching pad again for this album,” he said.\nWest said it was his idea to go directly against 50.\n“I was the underdog because I sold less records in the past, so it was a win-win for me,” he said. “If I lost, everyone would be happy that I even went up against him. People have this perception of me being arrogant, but would an arrogant person risk the chance of coming in the second spot just to be a part of history? To me, it’s more about fans and the entertainment value and good music.”\n50 routinely trash-talked West, but it seemed to be in good fun: The pair appeared on the MTV Video Music Awards and BET’s “106 & Park” together, and on the cover or Rolling Stone. Both admitted the battle was a great marketing tool.\n“The rivalry helped both of them,” Jay-Z said. “It was definitely one of those moments in the game that was exciting. Everybody could pick a side and weigh in on and have an opinion ... it garnered a lot of attention.”\nWest said the quality of his music was the key reason he prevailed. “I think my music is really inspirational and I really made it for the people,” he said. “I really understood that in this Internet age people are their own superstars ... the best bet that we had was to make a soundtrack to their own lives.”\nWest said he was especially touched that he had such a groundswell of support given some of the negative media attention he’s gotten of late – namely, his meltdown at the VMAs after being shut out, though he poked fun at himself during Sunday’s Emmy Awards.\n“With all the negativity that the press tries to put on me, (there is) this perception that they try to create of me being a really bad person. For so many fans to go out and say, ‘We still want to buy Kanye’s album,’ means a lot to me,” he said. “This is a really pivotal moment for me emotionally.”