Kanye declared winner in sales war with 50 Cent

Kanye declared winner
in sales war with 50 Cent

NEW YORK — Just hours after he was officially crowned the victor in his much-hyped sales battle with 50 Cent, Kanye West turned up at GQ’s 50th anniversary party as the featured performer. But the evening was more like a coronation for West, whose “Graduation” widely outsold 50 Cent’s “Curtis” in first week sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan: 957,000 copies to 691,000 copies. “To be a champion, you’ve got to take out a champion,” West declared Tuesday night, as an all-star crowd including Jay-Z, Beyonce and Diddy cheered him on. Though selling almost 700,000 copies in the first week is 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 a recent interview, he said he would retire if West outsold him. Fifty, who is planning a world tour for his album, was conciliatory in defeat, but didn’t address whether he planned to make good on his vow 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.”

Today’s birthday

Actress-comedian Anne Meara is 78. Actress Sophia Loren is 73. Hockey player Guy LaFleur is 56. Actor Gary Cole is 51. Rock musician Rick Woolstenhulme (Lifehouse) is 28. Rapper Yung Joc is 25.