A guy who posts as "Lupe" on Atlantic Records message board claims that the 58,000 units reported by Billboard is missing Best Buy's figures:

hahahaha....hi my peoples...actually this weeks Billboards numbers are off because of an error!!!...Best Buy hadnt turned in their sales...I must remind I was the number #1 seller at Best Buy this week...the numbers without Best Buy stand at 57,000...the new numbers will be out this friday after they turn in...hahahahaha...GOD IS GREAT!!!!

Judging by the same user's previous posts, there's no doubt in my mind that Lupe truly made the above entry. I wonder why he didn't post this on his MySpace blog which is more popular and obviously has the capacity to reach more folks. Then again, I wonder why hitsdailydouble.com reported 85,000, while Billboard claimed it was only 58,000.

Not that it's impossible for him to have really done those shitty numbers--after all, he's not dissin' anybody or making up some gimmicky dance moves. However, according to Best Buy's official website, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor is the current best seller in the rap / hip-hop category.

UPDATE: Lupe was absolutely right. Not only did a recent Atlantic Records press release corroborate this claim, Billboard has also noted that "system failure at a significant chain made it impossible for data from that company's stores to be included when Nielsen SoundScan processed the sales charts that were released Sept. 29 on Billboard.com and Billboard.biz."