What started out being a neck and neck race seems to be something that Kanye West might run away with. According to Billboard, the Soundscan “Building Charts” have indicated what the first day sales of both albums have totaled. Kanye West‘s Graduation has first day sales of 437k compared to 50 Cent‘s Curtis moving 310k. The third competitor in the race, Kenny Chesney, has found himself lost in the shuffle of the 50/Kanye battle as his first day totals for Just Who I Am: Poets And Pirates are well behind 50 and ‘Ye – with a first day total of 107k
So what does this mean for Graduation? Not only will he win his head to head battle with 50 Cent, but he is looking to easily surpass the 2007’s first week sales high set by Linkin Park‘s Minutes To Midnight (623k). He also has a chance of passing last year’s first week champ, Rascal Flatts‘ Me and My Gang, who totaled 722k in their first week.
All is not lost for 50 Cent, who can still prove a strong showing and track down Kanye. If not in the first week, he can possibly keep momentum up going into week two, which 50 stated was the most important week.
These numbers are represent more than 90% of the US music market but are not exact. Retailers such as Circuit City, iTunes, Best Buy, Borders, Target and others contribute to these figures.
