Eminem Dethrones Taylor Swift to Claim the Number One Album in the Country

Eminem‘s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) is officially the Number One album in the country, Billboard confirmed on Sunday, dethroning Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department after a 12-week reign atop the charts.

The album itself was met with mixed reviews, but clearly didn’t stop his fans from listening in. The Death of Slim Shady debuted with 281,000 units, according to Luminate. The record debuted with 220 million streams and another 114,000 digital downloads. It marks Eminem’s 11th album to top the Billboard Albums chart, the publication said.

The Death of Slim Shady’s chart-topping debut continues an impressive run Eminem has enjoyed for nearly 30 years. Aside from his Curtain Call 2 greatest hits album from 2022, the last time one of Eminem’s albums debuted outside of Number One on the Billboard chart was The Slim Shady LP back in 1999.

K-Pop group Enhypen’s Romance: Untold debuted at Number 2, per Billboard, while Zach Bryan’s Great American Bar Scene falls to three. Tortured Poets Department sits at four, its first time below Number One since its debut.

Beating out TTPD is a feat several other stars including Bryan, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, and Charli XCX have been unable to do since Swift’s album first released in April. The Tortured Poets Department is by far the best-selling album of the year so far, with about 4.66 million units sold through the first half of 2024, per Luminate. The album has more physical sales than the rest of the top-10 physical releases of 2024 combined.

Swift, perhaps foreseeing the end of her Number One streak, thanked fans on social media Saturday for the run, writing that “I also wanted to say to everyone who’s supported The Tortured Poets Department, I am completely blown away by what you’ve done – it stayed at #1 for the first 12 weeks of its release and that’s never happened to an album of mine before, not even close!! You’re just the greatest.”

The Death of Slim Shady marks the fifth album of the year to top Billboard’s album chart, following 21 Savage’s American Dream, Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign’s Vultures 1, and Future and Metro Boomin’s We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You.

With Eminem now at Number One, the question remains if he can retain the crown next week, or if Swift and TTPD will bounce back once again or another player takes over. 

From Rolling Stone US.