Rap star Kanye West has beaten rival 50 Cent in their head-to-head battle to claim the UK's best-selling album. The rappers entered the chart at numbers one and two respectively, while West's single Stronger stayed ahead of 50 Cent's song Ayo Technology.
50 Cent vowed that he would retire from making solo albums if outsold by West.
West's Graduation is also expected to beat 50 Cent's Curtis to the top spot in the US when the final chart is published on Wednesday.
Early sales projections suggested that West would sell 700,000 copies of his album in the US.
Rocketed
Teenage star Sean Kingston has remained number one for a third week in the UK singles chart with Beautiful Girls.
 | UK TOP FIVE SINGLES 1 Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston 2 Hey There - Plain White T's 3 Stronger - Kanye West 4 1973 - James Blunt 5 Ayo Technology - 50 Cent (pictured) Source: Official UK Charts Company |
Elsewhere in the singles chart, late opera star Luciano Pavarotti climbed from 24 to 12 with Nessun Dorma, while Elvis Presley scored a new entry at number 14 with a reissue of his 1957 hit Party.
The White Stripes - who cancelled their US and UK tours this week - landed at 18 with You Don't Know What Love Is.
In the album chart, Scottish star KT Tunstall landed behind Kanye West and 50 Cent with her new record Drastic Fantastic.
Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia debuted at five with a compilation of her greatest hits, while Liverpool band Ultrabeat entered the chart at eight with their self-titled debut album.
Thirty years since the death of glam rock star Marc Bolan, T-Rex's greatest hits album went into the chart at 15, while Pavarotti's Ultimate Collection rocketed 180 places to 17.
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