Kanye West pulls off Billboard 200 hat trick

December 03, 2008 The Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam set moved 450,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, the artist's lowest debut sales frame since his first album, "The College Dropout," bowed with 441,000 in 2004. With the help of Thanksgiving sale prices and a performance from the singer at the Nov. 23 American Music Awards, sales for Taylor Swift's Big Machine album "Fearless" increase 23% to 267,000, pushing the set up from No. 4 to No. 2. At No. 3 with 261,000 is Guns N' Roses' Best Buy exclusive "Chinese Democracy" (Black Frog/Geffen), the first studio album of original material from the group since 1991.

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