The people have spoken, and it’s Graduation day for IDJ’s Kanye West.
In the much-celebrated battle between the dapper rapper and Shady/Aftermath/ Interscope gangsta icon 50 Cent, West wins going away, with a first-week total of 930k that tops his own Late Registration, which bowed at #1 in August 2005 with 860k in sales.
Fiddy has nothing to be ashamed of, as Curtis tallies 660k, which represents the second-largest one-week total of the year, topping Linkin Park’s 625k back in May.
SBMG Nashville’s Kenny Chesney doesn’t exactly have to go hat in hand, either, with an impressive 400k tally for Just Who I Am: Poets and Pirates, which would have been an easy #1 in any other week but this one.
Those three together represent sales of about 1,000 copies less than the entire 200 best-selling albums totaled last week.
Walt Disney Records is the week’s other big winner, with two in the Top 5, including High School Musical 2, once more in six figures at 130k, and Hannah Montana 2-Meet Miley, while Hollywood Records sports the next highest debut, the third volume of the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack at #13.
A&M/Interscope’s Fergie (#6), Roadrunner’s perennial Nickelback (#7), Universal Republic’s surging Colbie Caillat (up 22% at #8), UTV/UMe’s Now 25 (#9) and Jive/ZLG’s Justin Timberlake (up 11% at #10) round out the Top 10.
Other chart newcomers include Trisha Yearwood’s Greatest Hits on MCA Nashville (#21) and Atlantic’s B5 (#28).
MTV VMA exposure appears to have helped strong gainers such as Interscope’s maestro Timbaland (#27-12, +47%), Geffen’s Common (#20-15, +25%) and Def Jam/IDJ’s Video of the Year winner Rihanna (#21-18, +31%). Other double-digit increases are registered by A&M/Octone’s Maroon 5 (#19-17, +14%), RCA’s Daughtry (#22, +16%), Reprise’s Michael Buble (#28-25, +10%) and WB’s Talib Kweli (#38-30, +12%).
Interscope Best New Artist Grammy candidate Feist uses the ubiquitous exposure of the new Apple Nano TV spot to move back into the Top 50 at #37, with more than double her previous week’s sales total.
Next week, a slew of new releases will crack the Top 50, including James Blunt, Chamillionaire, Barry Manilow, Rebe McEntrire, Twista, U.K. opera phenom Paul Potts and KT Tunstall.
