The rapper’s “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)” replaced the pop superstar’s “The Tortured Poets Department” after 12 weeks of dominance at the top.
Eventually someone had to come along and bump Taylor Swift from No. 1 on the Billboard album chart — and it was Eminem.
“The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce),” the latest LP by the 51-year-old shock-rapper from Detroit who has been posting No. 1s regularly for the entire 21st century, opens at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with the equivalent of 281,000 sales in the United States. That total includes 220 million streams and 114,000 traditional sales, all as digital downloads, according to data from the tracking service Luminate.
It is Eminem’s 11th album to reach No. 1, a streak that ties him with Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and Ye. The only artists ahead of them are Drake (13), Jay-Z and Taylor Swift (14 each), and the Beatles (19).
Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” falls to No. 4 after an extraordinary 12-week run at the top, which began with blockbuster vinyl and streaming numbers. She continued to defeat all comers with a strategy of releasing special “versions” of her album, using bonus tracks and variant packaging to entice her fans to buy it again and again.
Also this week, the K-pop boy band Enhypen opens at No. 2 with “Romance: Untold,” which had the equivalent of 124,000 sales, most from sales of CDs (17 collectible editions were available) and vinyl LPs. Zach Bryan’s “The Great American Bar Scene,” Swift’s last challenger, fell one spot to No. 3, and Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” is in fifth place in its 73rd week on the chart.
Source: Music - nytimes.com
