Well the numbers are in, and as expected, Kanye West's Yeezus won its showdown with J. Cole's Born Sinneror it did if the only metric in play is pure album sales. J. Cole, with his final tally of 297,000 units sold (second to Yeezus' 327,000) may have lost the battle, but he looks to have gained an upper hand in the war for hip-hop supremacy. To be fair, it may seem a war that West is no longer interested in, with a legacy firmly cemented and an attitude of being above such distinctions these days; the man did just unleash a track called "I Am A God," after all. But for Cole—expected to be blown out of the water by at least 100,000 units just last week (early projections had Kanye at 500,000 and Cole at 280,000)—to come within touching distance of Kanye's latest effort should be seen as a triumph and, maybe, a changing of the winds. Let's take a look at a few of the factors that may have contributed to the race that, while not a photo finish, at least came down fairly close to the wire.—Dan Rys (@danrys)

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The Buildup

Much was made about Kanye's lack of studio singles, the secretive nature of his sessions in Paris, the uncertainty about who he was collaborating with, and how he almost seemed to not care about promoting his album at all, culminating in his speech during his album listening party in Manhattan a few weeks ago, when he declared in no uncertain terms that Yeezus was an album about "Giving no fucks at all." His actions backed up his words—an appearance on Saturday Night Live, a performance at NYC's Governors Ball, and those mysterious song projections on buildings around the country served as the only real promotion he did. For Cole, he's had his first single "Power Trip" feat. Miguel on the charts for more than four months, and his big announcement about moving up his release date to compete with Kanye was the confident step that sparked such comparisons to the Kanye/50 Cent Graduation/Curtis duel in the first place. He may have gotten overly defensive in speaking on the battle, but the numbers backed him up in the end, and his involvement in the issue and willingness to speak to the press kept him in the headlines the whole way through.

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The Leaks

When Born Sinner leaked immediately following Cole's listening party, it seemed like it might doom the race before it even began, but he immediately owned the leak and made the album available to stream on iTunes prior to the album's release. If anything, it sparked even more conversation about his work, with the conversation surrounding "Let Nas Down" a particularly vibrant talking point. But the more substantial leak seemed to be when Yeezus found its way onto the Internet the Friday before the album's release. It immediately dominated the zeitgeist, with Twitter experiencing a near-meltdown, but it also sharply divided opinion in a way that may have caused a backlash from fans that have followed Kanye since his soul-saturated early days. Many who may have bought Yeezus just to see what Kanye had been up to heard the new-wave elements and decided to take a pass on purchasing the album in the end.

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The Artwork

Here's a cut-and-dried case: Cole's album had some, Kanye's didn't. It's pretty impossible to quantify what type of impact this may have had, but in an era where most people are going to cop an album for free anyway, artwork and presentation can go a long way toward convincing someone to want to go out and spend their money on a release. Simply put, a jewel case, a piece of duct tape, and a leak are cheaper than a new copy of Yeezus without any surprises stored in the liner notes. It may seem like a small thing, but it makes a difference.

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The Music

Yeezus was not a traditional hip-hop album by any conventional metric. Part of what Kanye does so well is to push the boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not—look no further than 808s And Heartbreaks for another example of that. In that respect, Born Sinner may have captured some of the audience that Kanye left in the dust with this release. While West was busy bringing in the robots and speaking to various deities, Cole was shouting out the legends that came before him through the game—something that Kanye himself used to do on his first trio of releases, praising Jay-Z, Cam'ron, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and the like. As the albums began to sink in, a consensus seemed to emerge: J. Cole was here to deliver an album for the fans of the "old" Kanye West. Cole's album was hip-hop; Kanye's was rap. Many fans, it seemed, made that distinction. It doesn't take away from the brilliance of Kanye West, just points to the tastes of the modern hip-hop community.

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