Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2007 > September > 19 > Entry
Kanye, 50 and a whole host more breath life into charts
Surprising almost nobody, Kanye West’s “Graduation” (Def Jam) beat the stuffing out of everyone else last week. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album sold 957,000 during its first six days. Billboard magazine notes that the Sept. 11 release date posted the Billboard 200’s largest sales total in more than two years.
50 Cent’s “Curtis” (G-Unit/Interscope) moved 691,000 sold for the No.2 slot. Kenny Chesney’s “Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates” (BNA/Sony BMG Nashville) sold 387,000 copies for No. 3. (Read our reviews of the two records here.)
Billboard also notes that rhe 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. West’s own August 2005 album, “Late Registration,” was the last album to surpass 800,000 copies when it began with 860,000. The top four titles alone account for 2.2 million units, more than all titles combined on last week’s entire Billboard 200. (The “High School Musical 2” soundtrack occupies the No. 4 slot.)
The “Graduation” and “Curtis” combo marks the second time in the Soundscan era that two albums have bowed in the same week with totals surpassing 600,000 copies.
The last time?
September 1991, when Guns N’ Roses’ “Use Your Illusion II” led The Billboard 200 with 770,000 copies in the same week that the band’s companion album “Use Your Illusion I” bowed at No. 2 with 685,000. This was a mere six months after Soundscan launched in March 1991.
So it’s been awhile.
Also of note (again, according to Billboard), year-to-date digital track sales through Sept. 16 have surpassed the year end total for 2006.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.
By makaveli
September 23, 2007 4:35 PM | Link to this
50 cent is # 1 kanye cant never go againts 50 is a teddy bear and 50 is a gorilla