News : EMINEM'S 'THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY' TOPS BILLBOARD 200 WITH BIGGEST RAP SALES OF 2024

Eminem‘s latest album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) has topped the Billboard 200 with the biggest sales week of 2024 in Hip Hop.

Debuting atop the chart with 281,000 equivalent album-units, Em’s 12th LP finally knocked Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department after an unbroken 12-week stint at No. 1, per Billboard.

The Death of Slim Shady‘s first-week sales make it the biggest rap debut of 2024, eclipsing Future and Metro Boomin‘s previous benchmark of 251,000 units sold with We Don’t Trust You.

Eminem’s latest offering also had the second biggest digital launch of the year with 114,000 sales, second only to Swift’s 274,000. The Death of Slim Shady does not have a physical release until September 13.

The album was originally projected to earn between 270,000 and 290,000 album-equivalent units in its opening week, so it landed right in the middle of this estimate.

The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is Em’s 11th No. 1 album, putting him level with Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand. Only Drake (13), Swift (14), JAY-Z (also 14) and The Beatles (19) have more.

The album also had a bigger opening week than Slim Shady’s previous album, 2020’s Music to be Murdered By (279,000), as well as 2017’s Revival (267,000).

Since its release on July 12, The Death of Slim Shady has courted controversy after Eminem dissed conservative pundit Candace Owens on “Lucifer.”

“And Candace O, I ain’t mad at her / I ain’t gon’ throw the fact bitch forgot she was Black back at her / Laugh at her like them crackers she’s backin’ after her back is turned / In a cute MAGA hat with her brand-new White Lives Matter shirt,” he rapped on the Dr. Dre-produced song.

He continued: “Or say this MAGA dirtbag in a skirt / Just opened the biggest can of worms on the whole planet Earth / Call her Grand Wizard, Klandace Grand Dragon or / Like the national anthem, I won’t stand for the tramp / But I can’t diss her ’cause my plans are to get in her pants and I’ll blow my chance if I answer back to her.”

Owens responded to Eminem in a lengthy rant on her YouTube channel, accusing of him being a closeted homosexual.

“First thing I wanna say is Eminem is obviously a gay man. It’s very sad that Eminem cleaned out his closet but never came out of his closet,” she said, referencing his 2002 hit.

Owens added: “It would have meant something if he was at his prime. He is not at the peak of his career; he is at the end of it. His career should have ended, like, 15 years ago and he keeps going.”