Graduation (album)
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Modèle:Infobox Album Graduation is the third studio album by hip hop artist Kanye West, released on September 11 2007. The title of the album follows the college theme of Kanye West's previous two albums, The College Dropout and Late Registration. The album artwork was designed by Takashi Murakami.
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Background
In July 2007, West changed the release date of Graduation from September 18 2007, to September 11 2007, the same release date as 50 Cent's Curtis.<ref>Jokesta (July 19 2007). Kanye Competes with 50, Album Pushed Back to September 11th. Def Sounds. Accessed August 11 2007</ref> This forced the albums to go head-to-head and compete for higher sales against each other. 50 Cent claimed that if Graduation sold more records than Curtis, he would stop releasing solo albums.<ref>Jokesta (August 9 2007). 50 Cent: Outsell Kanye or Stop Trying. Def Sounds. Accessed August 11 2007.</ref> However, he later dispelled his comments.<ref>Jayson Rodriguez, with reporting by Tim Kash (August 15 2007). 50 Cent Explains Last Week's Blowup, Says 'I Will Be #1 on September 11'. MTV. Accessed August 15 2007.</ref>
Graduation topped the Canadian, UK, United World Chart, and US album charts, however Curtis debuted at number one on the Irish and Swiss album charts, claiming the top spot on the Billboard European Top 100 Albums chart.<ref>European Top 100 Albums – Curtis. Billboard. Accessed September 30 2007.</ref>
Graduation's first week sales of 957,000 and Curtis's first week sales of 691,000 marked only the second time ever (since Nielsen SoundScan began collecting data in 1991) that two albums sold more than 600,000 in a week in the United States. The first occurrence of such an event was in 1991 when Guns N' Roses released Use Your Illusion I, which sold 685,000 copies, and Use Your Illusion II, which sold 770,000 copies. The first week sales totals of Graduation and Curtis have outsold the first week sales totals of Guns N' Roses' two albums.<ref name=billboard>Geoff Mayfield (September 18 2007). Kanye Crushes 50 Cent in Huge Album Sales Week. Billboard. Accessed September 19 2007.</ref>
Sales
Graduation sold approximately 957,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, becoming the highest sales week for an album in 2007 so far (topping Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight, which sold 625,000<ref>Kari Livingston (May 23 2007). Linkin Park Shatters Sales Record with "Minutes to Midnight". Associated Content. Accessed September 25 2007.</ref>) as well as West's highest sales week to date, topping his 860,000 opening week of his previous album Late Registration. In addition, it became the 15th highest sales week for an album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, and the highest sales week for an album since 50 Cent's The Massacre opened with 1.1 million in March 2005.<ref name=billboard/> As of November 11 2007, Graduation has sold 1,674,637 copies in the United States.<ref>Ewing, Aliya (November 21 2007). Hip Hop Album Sales: Week Ending 11/18/07. HipHopDX.com. Accessed November 23 2007.</ref>
Graduation debuted at number one on the United World Chart, selling approximately 1,153,000 copies worldwide.<ref>United World Chart – Albums – week 39 / 2007 - September 29. Media Traffic. Accessed October 11 2007.</ref> As of November 9 2007, Graduation has sold approximately 2,474,650 copies worldwide.<ref>United World Chart – Albums – week 39 / 2007 – September 29, week 40 / 2007 – October 6, week 41 / 2007 – October 13, week 42 / 2007 – October 20, week 43 / 2007 – October 27, week 44 / 2007 – November 3, week 45 / 2007 – November 10, week 46 / 2007 – November 17, week 47 / 2007 – November 24. Media Traffic. Accessed November 16 2007.</ref>
On October 18 2007, Graduation was certified 2× Platinum by RIAA.<ref>Searchable Database. RIAA. Accessed October 25 2007.</ref>
Reception
Graduation received generally favorable reviews from music critics.<ref>Kanye West: Graduation (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Accessed October 1 2007.</ref> Rolling Stone said that "none of the beats clobber you as immediately as "Jesus Walks" or "Gold Digger," but most of them improve on every listen: This is an album that you first like, then love." Rolling Stone also wrote that, "as a lyricist, West will never possess the pure cool or formal mastery of his mentor Jay-Z, but he's grown as a writer. (See the off-kilter, dreamlike "I Wonder".) And given the lousy year hip-hop has had, the music needs his spazzed-out, neurotic crea-tivity more than ever. As for the rest of you rappers: Try harder."<ref>Nathan Brackett (September 4 2007). Kanye West – Graduation Review. Rolling Stone. Accessed September 6 2007.</ref> Entertainment Weekly noted that "West's vocal mediocrity wouldn't be so glaring if the production were more of a diversion. There are no truly tragic compositions on Graduation—though the droning "Drunk and Hot Girls" could have been half as irritating at twice the speed—but most of the music just seems uninspired."<ref>Neil Drumming (September 7 2007). Music Review – Graduation. Entertainment Weekly. Accessed September 8 2007.</ref> The Chicago Tribune gave the album a favorable review, claiming that "West is at his best".<ref>Greg Kot (August 31 2007). 'Graduation' day arrives: Kanye West exploits his growing pains. Chicago Tribune. Accessed October 1 2007.</ref> This album was #5 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.<ref>ROBERT CHRISTGAU, DAVID FRICKE, CHRISTIAN HOARD, ROB SHEFFIELD (December 17, 2007). "The Top 50 Albums of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-20</ref>
Track listing
| # | Title | Songwriter(s) | Producer(s) | Featured guest(s) | Sample(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Good Morning" | Kanye West, Bernie Taupin & Elton John | Kanye West |
| 3:17 | |
| 2 | "Champion" | Kanye West, Donald Fagen & Walter Becker | Kanye West & Brian "Allday" Miller |
| 2:51 | |
| 3 | "Stronger" | Kanye West, Edwin Birdsong, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo<ref name=misspelling>In the album's liner notes, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo is misspelled as "G. De Homen-Christo" and Thomas Bangalter is misspelled as "T. Banghalter".</ref> & Thomas Bangalter<ref name=misspelling/> | Kanye West (additional programming by Timbaland) |
| 5:14 | |
| 4 | "I Wonder" | Kanye West & Labi Siffre | Kanye West |
| 4:03 | |
| 5 | "Good Life" | Kanye West, Aldrin Davis, Faheem Najm, James Ingram & Quincy Jones | Kanye West & DJ Toomp, additional production by Mike Dean (additional drum programming by Timbaland) | T-Pain |
| 3:28 |
| 6 | "Can't Tell Me Nothing" | Kanye West & Aldrin Davis | Kanye West & DJ Toomp |
| 4:31 | |
| 7 | "Barry Bonds" | Kanye West, Dominick Lamb, Dwayne Carter, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, Leslie Weinstein & Norman Landsberg | Nottz, co-produced by Kanye West | Lil Wayne |
| 3:24 |
| 8 | "Drunk and Hot Girls" | Kanye West, H. Schuering, Irmin Schmidt, Jaki Liebezeit, Kenji Suzuki & Michael Karoli | Kanye West, additional production by Jon Brion | Mos Def |
| 5:13 |
| 9 | "Flashing Lights" | Kanye West & Eric Hudson | Kanye West & Eric Hudson | Dwele |
| 3:57 |
| 10 | "Everything I Am" | Kanye West, Carlton Ridenhour, Eric Sadler, George Clinton, Hank Shocklee & Prince Phillip Mitchell | Kanye West | scratches by DJ Premier |
| 3:47 |
| 11 | "The Glory" | Kanye West, Dante Smith, Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, Laura Nyro, Leslie Weinstein & Norman Landsberg | Kanye West, co-produced by Gee Robertson & Patrick "Plain Pat" Reynolds |
| 3:34 | |
| 12 | "Homecoming" | Kanye West, Chris Martin & Warryn Campbell | Kanye West & Warryn Campbell | Chris Martin | 3:24 | |
| 13 | "Big Brother" | Kanye West & Aldrin Davis | DJ Toomp |
| 4:47 | |
| * | "Goodnight" (iTunes/Australian/Japan/UK bonus track) | Kanye West, A. Daniels, J.Miller, A. Reid, E. Beckford, W. Maragh | Kanye West, Jason T. Miller, Albert "Al Be Back" Daniels | Al Be Back & Mos Def | 3:06 | |
| * | "Bittersweet Poetry" (Australian/iTunes/Japan pre-order bonus track) | Kanye West & John Mayer | Kanye West | John Mayer |
| 4:10 |
An asterisk (*) indicates a bonus track.
Charts
| Charts (2007)<ref>Kanye West – Graduation. aCharts. Accessed September 29 2007.</ref><ref>European Top 100 Albums – Graduation. Billboard. Accessed October 7 2007.</ref><ref>Albums : Top 100 – 16 September, 2007 (for the Week Ending 20 September, 2007). Canoe – Jam! Music. Accessed September 21 2007.</ref><ref>Japanese Albums Chart. Oricon Style. Accessed September 23 2007.</ref> | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 2 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 26 |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 11 |
| Billboard European Top 100 Albums | 3 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 1 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 11 |
| Finnish Albums Chart | 16 |
| French Albums Chart | 9 |
| German Albums Chart | 10 |
| Irish Albums Chart | 2 |
| Japanese Albums Chart | 13 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart | 2 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 2 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 6 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 3 |
| UK Albums Chart | 1 |
| United World Chart | 1 |
| US Billboard 200 | 1 |
References
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