Eminem Makes Chart History With Eighth Consecutive No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200
Eminem's "Revival" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making him the first act in the history of the chart with eight consecutive entries to bow at No. 1.
As previously reported, Eminem’s Revival debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, granting the artist a record eighth consecutive bow at No. 1. The set starts atop the list with 267,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 21, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 197,000 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, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Jan. 3-dated chart (where Revival debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on Wednesday (Dec. 27). (The new chart is dated on a rare Wednesday date, instead of the usual Saturday, as Billboard is adjusting how it dates its charts and magazine issues.)
Eminem is the first act in the history of the Billboard 200 chart with eight consecutive chart entries to bow at No. 1. He previously opened at No. 1 with his last seven releases: The Marshall Mathers LP (2013), Recovery (2010), Relapse (2009), the best-of set Curtain Call: The Hits (2005), Encore (2004), The Eminem Show (2002) and The Marshall Mathers LP (2000). His only charting effort to miss the top was his major label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, which topped out at No. 2 in 1999.
While no other act has seen eight charting sets in a row debut at No. 1, there are three acts have achieved honorable feats with eight No. 1s.
JAY-Z: The superstar mogul has seen his last 11 solo studio albums debut at No. 1, from 1998’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life through his latest release, 2017’s 4:44. Sprinkled among those chart toppers are three further collaborative sets that opened atop the list: Watch the Throne, with Kanye West; MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Presents: Collision Course, with Linkin Park; and Unfinished Business, with R. Kelly.
Breaking up JAY-Z’s hot streak between 1998 and the present are seven charting titles that did not reach No. 1. Among those: his first collaboration effort with R. Kelly (The Best of Both Worlds, peaking at No. 2), a best-of album (Hits Collection: Volume One, No. 43), a live set (Live in Brooklyn, No. 36) and even an acapella title (The Black Album: Acapella, No. 106).
Related
The Beatles: The Fab Four is the only other act to have eight chart entries in-a-row all hit No. 1 — though none of the eight debuted at No. 1. The band topped the list eight consecutive times between 1965 and 1968 with Beatles IV, Help!, Rubber Soul, Yesterday and Today, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour and their self-titled set, also known as The White Album. All eight of those albums debuted at a lower position on the chart, and then climbed to No. 1.
As noted above, the group has a record 19 No. 1s on the chart. (Note: the first album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy in 1975. Only six albums bowed at No. 1 before May of 1991, when Billboard began using Nielsen Music’s electronically monitored point-of-sale purchase information to power the Billboard 200 chart. From that point forward, the vast majority of albums that reached No. 1 did so by debuting at No. 1. The influx of No. 1 debuts — as compared to pre-1991 — is owed to the chart’s increased accuracy thanks to Nielsen Music point-of-sale data.
The Rolling Stones: Between 1971 and 1981, all eight of the band’s studio albums reached No. 1– from 1971’s Sticky Fingers through 1981’s Tattoo You. Like JAY-Z, the Stones’ domination at No. 1 was halted by a number of non-studio sets. In that span of time, the band clocked six further charting albums that did not top the list, including the greatest hits sets Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (No. 4 in 1971) and Made in the Shade (No. 6 in 1975), and the live album Love You Live (No. 5, 1977).