At the time of writing Kanye West was winning the chart battle with 50 Cent both home and abroad, after Fiddy’s overzealous bid for superiority.

As both artists vowed to release their albums Graduation (West) and Curtis (50 Cent) on the same day, 50 Cent claimed he would stop making solo albums if he was outsold by his rival.

Perhaps Fiddy got carried away on the basis of history. His successful album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ sold 7 million copies, a coup followed up by 2005’s The Massacre which hit 5 million. In comparison West sold 2.5 million copies of his debut The College Dropout, before 2005’s Late Registration shifted roughly the same.

Embarrassingly for the Candy Shop rapper though it would seem initial figures point to West taking the lead, with his third album tipped to shift 700,000 copies by the end of its first week.

Stronger, his first single released from the new album, has been well received, earning praise from music critics, while 50 Cent’s leaked Curtis songs have been less popular.

West has been too caught up criticising MTV for various reasons to really give it his full attention. The rapper said the network took advantage of Britney Spears over her comeback performance, claiming they knew she wasn’t up to the gig.

“Man, they were trying to get ratings. They knew she wasn’t ready and they exploited her,” he said. His motives became clear when he said he felt ‘betrayed’ by MTV, which failed to give him a proper performance slot at the Music Video Awards.

To top it off, West threw a tantrum at the Las Vegas awards ceremony after being denied any of the five gongs he had been nominated for. The rapper vowed he would never work with the station again.

The Toxic singer meanwhile was panned globally for her lacklustre routine.

With a thinly veiled attack on West, 50 Cent put the final nail in poor Britney’s coffin.

“She deserved to headline the show better than anybody else that was on it – even in the state that she is in.”