Kanye West enters chart at No. 1
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Rapper Kanye West's sophomore album "Late Registration" fought off a pack of high-profile debuts to enter The Billboard 200 at No. 1 this week.
"Late Registration" sold 860,000 copies in the United States, Nielsen SoundScan reported, besting the nearest competition by more than 600,000. West's 2004 debut, "The College Dropout," opened at No. 2 with 441,000 units and has sold 2.7 million to date.
G-Unit's Tony Yayo's "Thoughts of a Predicate Felon" was No. 2 on The Billboard 200 with a 214,000-copy start and country's Brooks & Dunn earned its highest spot on the big chart with a No. 3 entry for "Hillbilly Deluxe.
Death Cab For Cutie were No. 4, the highest chart spot of its career with its major-label debut, "Plans." Mariah Carey's "The Emancipation of Mimi" was No. 5 followed by The Black Eyed Peas' "Monkey Business" at No. 6.
The No. 7 spot was filled by the 19th installment of "NOW! That's What I Call Music," followed by Hilary Duff's "Most Wanted."
Christian group Casting Crowns entered The Billboard 200 at No. 9 and with "Lifesong," and hip-hop newcomer Rihanna debuted at No. 10 on the album chart with "Music of the Sun."
U.S. album sales rose 8.6 percent from last week at 10.5 million units, but trailed the same week last year by 13 percent. Sales for 2005 were behind 2004 by 8.4 percent at 375 million units.
Country Music Awards nominees tapped
NEW YORK, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Brad Paisley and Lee Ann Womack led the field with six nods each for the 2005 Country Music Association Awards announced in New York Wednesday.
Toby Keith and Keith Urban got four nominations each while Rascal Flats, George Strait, Gretchen Wilson and Sugarland landed three apiece.
The 39th annual CMA Awards ceremony will be at New York's Madison Square Garden Nov. 15 and broadcast live by CBS. The veteran duo Brooks & Dunn have been tapped as hosts.
Three-time CMA Award winner Womack was nominated for female vocalist of the year, album of the year, single and music video of the year and musical events of the year for her duets with Strait and Willie Nelson.
Five-time CMA winner Paisley is up for entertainer of the year, male vocalist, single, song and music video and will go up against with Womack for the musical event of the year for his duet with Sara Evans.
The move to New York means the ceremony will be open to the public for the first time this year -- but at $250 each, tickets aren't cheap.
Feds link 50 Cent, dealer to Jay slaying
NEW YORK, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Federal documents indicate a New York drug kingpin was out to kill 50 Cent and may have killed Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay for playing the rapper's music.
Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff was angered by 50 Cent's song "Ghetto Koran," which told the history of McGriff's "Supreme Team" drug gang, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.
"Messages transmitted over the (hip-hop record label) Murder Inc. pager indicate that McGriff is involved in an ongoing plot to murder this rap artist," IRS agent Francis Mace wrote in a 2003 affidavit.
50 Cent was shot and wounded shortly after the 2000 release of the song and was "blacklisted in the recording industry," the affidavit said.
Mace also wrote of a possible link between the feud and the unsolved shooting death of Jay, 37, who was killed by a masked gunman in his recording studio in October 2002.
McGriff is on trial in New York on multiple murder charges and Murder Inc. founder Irving "Irv Gotti" Lorenzo and his brother, Chris, have a pending trial for allegedly laundering McGriff's drug money through their label.
Church is GQs' Woman of the Year
LONDON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- She may only be 19, but Welsh singer Charlotte Church was crowned Woman of the Year at the GQ Awards at London's Royal Opera House.
Matt Lucas and David Walliams received the Best Comedian award Tuesday night and Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof was awarded for Outstanding Contribution, hellomagazine.com reported Wednesday.
U.S. rapper Jay-Z also attended the ceremony, where he was dubbed International Man of the Year.
In naming the teenage Church Woman of the Year, GQ magazine editor called her "a great singer, a tabloid giant."
"Charlotte Church is our Woman of the Year simply because she is larger than life," editor Dylan Jones said. "She might not be to everyone's taste, but the fact that she doesn't care about that makes her even more wonderful."
