Eminem’s Recovery Tops The Billboard 200
By Travis Woods
Big news for Eminem this week – his pretty-good-since-it’s-at-least-not-Relapse-again album Recovery was released last week, and according to Billboard, the thing is selling like crazy. How crazy? Like AC/DC and Coldplay crazy (and isn’t it a little disheartening that those bands are the metrics by which bestselling records are now based?).
Debuting with 784,000 copies sold in its first week, Recovery boasts the biggest sales week for a single album since October 2008, which is when AC/DC released their last album, Black Ice. It’s a big deal for Em, who really needed a hit (let’s face it—Relapse, despite selling big numbers, wasn’t exactly his finest moment), but not exactly anything new, either; Recovery is his sixth straight Number 1 album, and number 1 debut. Further, it places him in the number two spot (just behind Jay-Z, who has 11) on the list of hip hop artists with the most Number 1 albums.
And despite a flurry of illegal downloads, Recovery even carved a massive niche in digital album sales, with 255,000 paid downloads in the first week alone. Only one other album has had a larger digital week in history, and that was – brace yourselves – for Coldplay’s Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends. It looks like Recovery might be a pretty apt title after all for Eminem’s newest release.
What do you think of Eminem’s Recovery—is it as good as his earlier work?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 10:42PM
AC/DC crazy? You're the one that's f***ing crazy! AC/DC albums are usually good, top to bottom. 10-14 strong songs. A lot of craftsmanship goes into those songs. Contrast that with most of the other groups (pop, rap) who appear at the top of the charts with one good song off a cd. So, the next time you go running your mouth off, through your computer keystrokes, think about what you're writing about. From my point of view, it's about time AC/DC and other hard rock and metal groups get the glory they should have been getting since the 70's. Music for people with good taste.