LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 27: Eminem onstage during the 2010 BET Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium … [+]
For the first time in months, Taylor Swift doesn’t rule the Billboard 200. The singer had been running the show on the most important albums chart in the U.S. since early May. She faced tough competition from a number of superstars, but one of the most successful rappers ever turned out to be the one who ended her winning streak.
Eminem debuts his new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard 200. As the hip-hop powerhouse launches his latest set atop the tally, he stops Swift from making history.
Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department currently shares the record for the second-most weeks at No. 1 from a title’s debut in first place. She is tied with Morgan Wallen, whose One Thing at a Time managed the same feat before stepping down.
With a twelfth week at No. 1–without ever dipping from that position–Swift broke out of her match with Whitney Houston. Until The Tortured Poets Department spent its dozenth week on top, the two women were tied for the honor of having the longest-running leader on the Billboard 200 from its debut at No. 1, as Houston’s managed 11 frames in charge from its arrival until it finally ceded control over the list back in the ‘80s.
If The Tortured Poets Department had held on and topped the Billboard 200 for a thirteenth week, it would have made history once again. Only one release–Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life–managed a lucky 13 stays at No. 1 on the tally after opening in first place.
Swift won’t match Wonder’s record, though she might return to the summit. The Tortured Poets Department is still performing very well, and all it will take for the title to jump back to No. 1 is a quiet frame with few major releases. It doesn’t seem like that’s in the cards for this forthcoming frame, as new projects from stars like Stray Kids and BTS singer Jimin are competing for the top debut, but Swift’s latest shouldn’t be counted out just yet.
The Death of Slim Shady debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 281,000 equivalent units shifted. That sum is largely made up of streaming units, as the tracks featured on the project racked up an incredible 220 million plays on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music in the first tracking week the full-length was available. It also sold 114,000 copies, despite only being available to purchase digitally.