Eminem officially has the No. 1 album in the country.
The 51-year-old rapper’s latest studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), made its debut at the top of the Billboard 200 Album chart with 281,000 equivalent album units, according to Billboard, per data from Luminate.
Despite not being issued physically for its July 12 release, the LP now has the largest week for any rap album in 2024 with 164,500 streaming equivalent albums from 220 million official on-demand streams, 114,000 digital album downloads, and 2,500 track equivalent albums.
Billboard also notes that Death of Slim Shady is Em’s 11th No. 1 album, which ties him with Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, and the artist formerly known as Kanye West for the acts with the fifth-most No. 1s on the prestigious album chart.
With his latest chart success, the “Houdini” rapper has managed to dethrone Taylor Swift, whose album The Tortured Poets Department spent 12 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart, a career-best for the 34-year-old pop singer. After three months at No. 1, the project lands at the No. 4 position on this week’s chart.
“I also wanted to say to everyone who’s supported The Tortured Poets Department, I am completely blown away by what you’ve done – it stayed at #1 for the first 12 weeks of its release and that’s never happened to an album of mine before, not even close!!” wrote Swift on her Instagram account on Saturday. “You’re just the greatest.”
Swift’s 31-track album was on track to surpass Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time and Stevie Wonder’s iconic 1976 LP Songs in the Key of Life, both of which spent their first 12 weeks at No. 1, Billboard reports.
According to Digital Music News, Swift has released at least 34 versions of Tortured Poets across vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital. The strategy of these releases helped her stay atop the Billboard 200 since April, keeping her above new albums from artists such as Gunna and Billie Eilish, per the New York Times.
Trailing behind Eminem on the Billboard 200 is K-pop sensation ENHYPEN with their Romance: Untold album making its debut at No. 2, followed by country star Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene at No. 3.
Adopted from Complex
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