Justin Bieber, Usher Vie To Top Billboard Chart

For the past several years, Usher has been helping his protégé Justin Bieber become an international pop star. The pair have collaborated on songs and onstage, but now they are about to have their first battle — on the charts.

Usher's album, Looking 4 Myself, debuted on top of the Billboard albums chart, becoming his fourth #1 album after selling 128,000 copies in its first week. But now it's Bieber's turn: Just one week later, Bieber will be entering the charts with his third studio album, Believe and early predictions are expecting huge album sales.

Do Usher And Justin Bieber Have a Friendly Competition For Record Sales?

According to Billboard, Believe is on course to sell between 410,000 and 440,000 units, which would make it the year's biggest debut to date.

Even though Bieber is on track to beat his mentor in sales, the R&B superstar isn't concerned.

Regarding whether he and Bieber speak about topping each other on the charts, Usher told MTV News, "Actually, we have not had that conversation. We try to calculate when we release so that we support each other. It's like a seesaw: 'You take it this week; I'll take it this week.' "

Usher also said that even though he and Bieber do not appear on each other's albums, he was still heavily involved in each song that made the cut on Believe.

"We talked about many different things when making his album. The coolest part about it is we support each other regardless if I'm on the album or he's on my album or not," Usher said. "Every album, it is that sit-down that we have to have, to go through this record. We talk about the audiences that are there: This song is for this audience member, this song is for this region. And that's always very helpful."

Bieber shared during "MTV First: Justin Bieber" that he still turns to Usher for sound advice.

"He's just giving me the advice of: Always keep the people that were there at the beginning and keep them with you, because those are the people that really care and they want to see you succeed."

Justin bieber and Usher talk about relationship

Justin Bieber and Usher have spoken together about their relationship in a US magazine interview.

The pair, who have been friends for years while Usher was mentoring him to pop fame, talked to Billboard Magazine about 18-year-old Justin's changing sound and the bond he shares with his 33-year-old mentor.

JB said: "I don't want to lose my young fans, but I also want to mature and develop. I always keep one foot out of my comfort zone, trying new things and experimenting — if you don't, people will get bored.

"Seeing the smiles on people's faces and how I affect them when I perform makes me want to give them the absolute best experience they can possibly get."

To which R&B star Usher added: "I'm happy that Justin knows that without me even saying that. You really do want to make sure that you bring along fans that have always been there, but make sure that you grow and chart new territory."

Asked what advice he'd been given by his mentor, Justin said: "He takes me back to Michael Jackson, but also Fred Astaire and all these other people that I probably would've never looked up.

"And Usher's always told me, 'You need to work hard, but also play hard. Strive to be the best, but have fun doing it.'

"What's great is that in Usher, I have a mentor that's been doing it so long and has been successful in everything that he's done," Justin continued. "He's made some mistakes, too, but he's learned from them, so he can tell me what to do and what not to do."

Biebs has also found time to tease his followers on Twitter with the promise of more info about his forthcoming tour soon.

He said: "#BELIEVEtour announcements this month...stay tuned."