September 24, 2007

By By Chris M. Walsh, N.Y.

With the Kanye West/50 Cent retail battle squarely in the rearview mirror, debate around the Billboard offices is centering on what the next big rack race will be.

Upcoming retail showdowns include next week?s Bruce Springsteen vs. Dashboard Confessional vs. Matchbox Twenty on Oct. 2; Alicia Keys vs. Jay-Z vs. Garth Brooks coming Nov. 6; Britney Spears vs. Celine Dion vs. Wu Tang on Nov. 13; and Mariah Carey and 'Lil Wayne set for Dec. 4.

The competition between West and 50 Cent gave the duo a major boost in exposure leading up to release date. On the Web alone, search terms that incorporated "Kanye and 50" during the week of July 1 included 103 blogs and 222 posts in forums. For the week beginning September 9, two days before their releases hit shelves, blog posts with both terms jumped to 1649 and 5839 in forums, according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics, which feeds the recently launched Buzz 100 chart.

Early results on Billboard.biz's weekly poll point to an Alicia Keys vs. Jay-Z vs. Garth showdown being the best of the upcoming releases.

Weigh-in with your vote on our poll, found towards the middle of the page you're reading and on the homepage on Billboard.biz.

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