Billboard Predicts Kanye West Will Outsell 50 Cent

According to Billboard.biz, Kanye West is predicted to outsell 50 Cent in this week’s highly contested and publicized battle of new albums. Executives with three of the major record labels who project first week sales indicated that Kanye’s Graduation is on pace to sell between 575,000 and 700,000 copies. 50 Cent’s LP, Curtis, on the other hand, is being projected to move between 500,000 and 600,000 units. Billboard also reports that country singer Kenny Chesney’s album, Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, is closing in on 50 with sales between 400,000 and 550,000. All of the aforementioned numbers, though, are predictions. Nielsen SoundScan will finalize first week sales on Sunday and release the official numbers on Wednesday, September 19.