Eminem’s latest album “The Death of Slim Shady” (Coup de Grâce) topped the Billboard 200 with the highest-selling hip-hop music week of 2024.
According to Billboard , Em’s 12th LP debuted at No. 1 with 281,000 equivalent album sales, ultimately beating out Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” after spending 12 weeks at No. 1. 》.
“The Death of Slim Shady” became the biggest rap debut album of 2024 with first-week sales, surpassing Future and Metro Boomin’s previous “We Don’t Trust You” sales benchmark of 251,000.
Eminem’s latest also notched the second-biggest digital sales of the year, selling 114,000 copies, behind Swift’s 274,000. “The Death of Slim Shady” will not be released physically until September 13th.
The album was originally expected to sell between 270,000 and 290,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, so it fell right in the middle of that estimate.
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is Em’s 11th No. 1 album, putting him on par 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’s first-week sales are also higher than Slim Shady’s previous albums, 2020’s “Music to be Murdered By” (279,000 songs) and 2017’s “Revival” (267,000 songs).
Since its release on July 12, “The Death of Slim Shady” has stirred controversy over Eminem’s criticism of conservative critic Candace Owens in “Lucifer.”
“Candice O, I’m not mad at her/I’m not throwing this bitch at her for forgetting the fact that she’s black/Laughing at her like those cookies, she’s back after turning her back/On Cute MAGA hat and her brand new White Lives Matter shirt,” he sang on the Dr. Dre-produced song.
He continued: “Or this MAGA piece of shit in a skirt/Just opened the biggest can of worms on the entire planet/Calling her the Grand Wizard, Klandace Grand Dragon or/Like the anthem, I’m not going to support bums/But I Couldn’t say no to her because my plan was to get in her pants and if I responded to her I would lose the chance.
Owens launched a lengthy response to Eminem on her YouTube channel, accusing him of being a closeted homosexual.
“The first thing I want to say is that Eminem is obviously gay. It’s very sad that Eminem cleaned out his closet and never came out of his closet.
Owens added: “If he’s in his prime, that would mean something. He’s not at the peak of his career; he’s over. His career should have ended 15 years ago, but he’s still Moving on.
