The numbers are in for first-week sales of Kanye West's third album, "Graduation," and the Chicago rapper and producer has blown the doors off New York gangsta 50 Cent's latest (and last?) album.

;Nielsen SoundScan, which monitors album sales at the point of purchase, reports that "Graduation" sold 957,000 copies since September 11, earning the No. 1 slot on Billboard's pop albums chart and nearly winning platinum status during its first six days on sale.

50 Cent's third album, "Curtis," came in at No. 2 with 691,000 sold, followed by Kenny Chesney's "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates" with 387,000 copies.

Billboard reports the total for "Graduation" is the largest for any recording since 50 Cent's "The Massacre" sold 1.1 million copies in March 2005. And West's album ranks 15th among all first-week sales giants since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking numbers in 1991.

"To be a champion, you've got to take out a champion," West said while performing Tuesday at GQ's 50th anniversary party in New York.

Prior to his release, Fiddy vowed to quit the music business if West rapper outsold him. But by the middle of last week, he was backing off from that comment. He also accused West's record company of doctoring the numbers.

"He's never had a fraction of the sales 50 Cent has," the rapper said, referring to himself in the third person in the British music magazine Uncut. "They could have only one scan and have it count four times. West's entire career hasn't sold half what I sold on my first album."

Forbes magazine recently reported that Fiddy ranked No. 2 on the list of the wealthiest stars in hip-hop, earning US$32 million in 2006, trailing only Jay-Z, who garnered US$34 million.

According to Forbes, "West will have to sell millions of copies of his latest album, plus embark on a megasuccessful worldwide stadium tour a la the Rolling Stones, to match 50's estimated earnings by year's end, even discounting his recent album."

(Agencies via Xinhua September 21, 2007)