Eminem Blows Up....Again...!
In an unquestionable testament to the relevancy of Detroit in the music world today, Eminem's latest release, Recovery, debuts at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 this week, while blowing past all sales estimates that had pegged the Clinton Township resident's release to hit the 500,000 mark, only to up that mid-week to 600,000. But when all was said and done with, Marshall Mathers scored an unthinkable victory for the turmoil laden record business (and undeniably Detroit), by squelching even the biggest critics with first week sales of nearly 750,000 hard copies of Recovery, the biggest first week sales number since Ac/Dc's 780,000 copies of "Black Ice" flew off the shelves of stores during it's first week back in 2008. In fact, the 700,000 first week sales mark has only been reached 3 times since 2008, an increasingly rare feat that reflects the power Eminem has retained since his debut back in 1999 when his Slim Shady LP reached 280,000 units sold during it's first week of sales, giving Slim Shady a whopping total of 5.5 million in first week sales throughout his career. If that were not enough, take into consideration that the first single from the album, Not Afraid, released in May, (see video below) also debuted at the number one position, garnering 380,000 digital downloads on iTunes the first week, followed by the Eminem / Rihanna single, Love The Way You Lie, released with the album as a single last week, and again topped the singles charts with an amazing 340,000 downloads from iTunes again. 75 million albums sold to date....check that again, 75,000,000 albums sold to date, all from a white rapper from Detroit, MI. Who says Detroit doesn't rock must be outta their minds!
Eminem performs with JayZ in a unique home & home concert series that kicks off September 2nd & 3rd at Comerica Park, before hitting the Big Apple for another pair of shows at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on September 13th & 14th.
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