Kanye West

As everyone in the forums had predicted, Kayne West’s “Graduation” album outsold 50 Cent’s “Curtis” in first week sales, according to an official report by Billboard.

Some interesting tidbits from the Billboard article:

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…”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.”

Fiddy promised that he wouldn’t make any more solo albums if he lost to Kayne. It’ll be interesting to see how he’ll keep that promise, especially since he’s on contract with Interscope to release at least one more album.

Regardless of who won though, this “battle” was a brilliant marketing tool by both to sell more copies of their albums. Judging by the record breaking numbers, it definitely lined their necks and wrists with yet more bling.