The Big News: As you already know, Kanye West beat 50 Cent in their debut-week sales showdown, but the real winner is the music industry. Kanyes Graduation sold 957,000, the biggest single week tally since 2005, when 50s The Massacre sold 1.1 million in its debut week. According to Billboard, its the 15th biggest sales week since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. 50s Curtis moved 691,000, which, despite losing to Kanye, easily tops the years previous top debut (Linkin Parks 623,000). The only other time since 1991 that the top two albums each sold more than 600,000 each came in September of that year, when Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusion I and II sold 770,000 and 685,000 respectively. Country star Kenny Chesneys latest sold 387,000, finishing number three with a figure that would earn him the number one spot almost any other week. Just to give you an idea what a departure these numbers are from the industrys endless sales drought: When you add up the top four — including last weeks number one High School Musical 2 soundtrack, which sold 133,000 this week — you get 2.2 million CDs sold, which is more than the top 200 albums combined sold last week.
The Debuts: After the top three, its a long drop to the next new record: A third Greys Anatomy soundtrack landed at number sixteen, moving a comparatively paltry 27,000 units; Trisha Yearwoods Greatest Hits debuted at number twenty-two with 22,000; And R&B-boy band B5 sold 19,000 and hit number twenty-seven.
Last Weeks Sales Heroes: Perennial top-tenners, including the HSM2 and Hannah Montana 2 soundtracks, Fergie, and Now! 25 all dropped back a few slots to make room for the newcomers. MySpace-made star Colbie Caillat continues to scale the charts, with a 25 percent jump in sales and a corresponding leap from number fourteen to eight.


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