Eminem joins an elite group after earning his ninth no. 1 album

Eminem caught the entertainment world off guard with the surprise release of “Kamikaze”, his 10th solo album, produced less than nine months after his last effort. Image: AFP/Pierre Andrieu

After Eminem’s latest album “Kamikaze” earned the number one spot on the United States Billboard chart, the seasoned rapper can count himself among an elite group of artists to earn nine chart-topping albums.

Billboard revealed on Sunday that “Kamikaze”, which the rapper released with no prior announcement on Aug. 31, had taken the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart for the week ending Sept. 6.

With 434,000 equivalent album units sold over the course of the week, the new album far surpasses Eminem’s previous LP, “Revival”, which debuted at number 1 with 267,000 units on the chart dated Jan. 3, 2018.

All nine of Eminem’s albums released since the 2000s have debuted in the top spot on the Billboard chart; the only exception among his major-label releases was 1999’s “The Slim Shady LP”, which reached number two.

As Billboard reveals, the rapper is now tied with Garth Brooks and the Rolling Stones as fifth-place leaders in the chart’s history. The few acts claiming more number one albums are the Beatles (with 19), Jay-Z (14), Bruce Springsteen (11), Barbra Streisand (11) and Elvis Presley (10).

In the United Kingdom, “Kamikaze” likewise claimed a new record for Eminem, who surpassed ABBA and Led Zeppelin to claim the record for the most consecutive chart-topping albums in Britain. As in the U.S., it became his ninth album in a row to reach number one, according to the U.K. Official Charts Company. JB

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