In record sales this past week, the most hyped rock album of the decade was no match for the most self-hyping rapper of the decade.
Guns N' Roses' long-awaited "Chinese Democracy" -- issued exclusively at Best Buy stores and iTunes.com last week -- was the week's third-best seller, landing behind Kanye West's new one, "808s & Heartbreaks," and Taylor Swift's latest disc on the Billboard album chart today.
West's album sold 441,000 copies its first week, compared to GNR's 261,000. West's sales figures were disappointing compared to his last record, 2007's "Graduation," which tallied nearly a million copies out of the chute. GNR's numbers also paled in comparison to the 784,000 that AC/DC's "Black Ice" sold through its Wal-Mart exclusive deal in October.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
