Kanye West Destroys 50 Cent In US Chart Battle

Kanye West has destroyed fellow rapper 50 Cent in the much hyped chart battle between the pair by selling almost 300,000 more copies of his album, ‘Graduation,’ in the first week.

First week sales figures from tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan showed that West sold 957,000 in the six day period ending September 16th, compared to 50 Cent’s, ‘Curtis,’ which only managed 691,000 in the same period.

The huge first week sales for the two rappers, which also saw West take the number one spot over 50 Cent in the UK, has been hailed a pundits as a promising sign for the music industry.

Frequently during 2007, the album that has topped US charts has failed to sell over 100,000 copies in the first week, with music piracy being blamed for the poor sales.

Speaking about the result 50 Cent 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," reports Reuteurs.

In the lead up to the release of the two albums, 50 Cent publicly stated that should West outsell him, he would quite the music industry as a recording artist.

Although he has made no comment about his future in America, on Monday (September 17th) he cancelled all imminent European promotional commitments.