Eminem earns his ninth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as his surprise release Kamikaze debuts at No. 1. The set, which was released without warning on Aug. 31 via Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records, earned 434,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Sept. 6, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 252,000 were in traditional album sales.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Sept. 15-dated chart — where Kamikaze debuts at No. 1 — will be posted in full on Billboard’s websites on Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Kamikaze’s start of 434,000 units blows past the launch of Eminem’s last album, Revival, which entered at No. 1 with 267,000 units (197,000 in album sales) on the chart dated Jan. 3, 2018.
Of the 434,000 units, traditional album sales comprised 252,000, while TEA units equaled 14,000 and SEA units totaled 168,000.
Eminem’s Ninth No. 1 Album: Eminem has quite the track record on the Billboard 200, as all nine of his albums released since 2000 have hit No. 1. (His only major label release to miss the top was his first charting effort, 1999’s The Slim Shady LP, which hit No. 2.) He’s now tied with Garth Brooks and The Rolling Stones for the fifth-most leaders in the chart’s history. The only acts with more No. 1s are The Beatles (with 19), JAY-Z (14), Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand (both with 11) and Elvis Presley (10).
Nine No. 1 Debuts: All nine of Eminem’s No. 1s debuted at No. 1. The only act with more bows atop the list is JAY-Z, as all 14 of his leaders started in the penthouse.
Two No. 1s in Less Than a Year: Eminem is the fourth act of 2018 to claim a pair of No. 1 albums in less than 12 months’ time. His last No. 1, Revival, topped the chart dated Jan. 3, 2018. He follows BTS (Love Yourself: Answer on Sept. 8 and Love Yourself: Tear on June 2), Logic (Bobby Tarantino II on March 24, 2018 and Everybody on May 27, 2017) and Migos (Culture II on Feb. 10, 2018 and Culture on Feb. 18, 2017).
Fourth-Largest Week for an Album in 2018: Kamikaze’s bow of 434,000 units is the fourth-largest week for an album in 2018. The only bigger frames were logged by the debuts of three other hip-hop albums: Drake’s Scorpion (732,000; July 14-dated chart), Travis Scott’s Astroworld (537,000; Aug. 18) and Post Malone’s beerbongs & bentleys (461,000; May 12).
Third-Largest Sales Week for an Album in 2018: Kamikaze’s sales bow of 252,000 sold (all via digital downloads, as its CD was not released until Sept. 7) tallies the third-biggest sales week for an album in 2018. The larger weeks were Dave Matthews Band’s Come Tomorrow (285,000; June 23) and Scott’s Astroworld (270,000). Notably, Come Tomorrow’s first week was bolstered by sales from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer, and Astroworld was enhanced by sales from an array of merchandise/album bundles. While Eminem also offered various merchandise/album bundles, old-fashioned digital retailer sales provided the bulk of his set’s overall sales volume.
Eminem’s Largest Streaming Week Ever: Kamikaze starts with 168,000 SEA units, which translates to 225.5 million on-demand audio streams for the set’s songs during the tracking week. That latter figure marks Eminem’s biggest streaming week ever for an album, and the eighth-largest streaming week among all albums in 2018. Eminem’s last album, Revival, notched his previous streaming high, with 82.5 million on-demand audio streams earned in its first week. Source: Billboard
