Eminem stops Taylor Swift from making history

For the first time in months, Taylor Swift is not ruling the Billboard 200. The singer had dominated the most important album charts in the USA since the beginning of May. She had to contend with strong competition from a number of superstars, but one of the most successful rappers of all time ended her winning streak.

Eminem presents his new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) at No. 1 on this week’s Billboard 200. As the hip-hop powerhouse kicks off his latest set at the top of the chart, he’s preventing Swift from making history.

Swifts The “Tortured Poets” section currently shares the record for the second most weeks at No. 1 since a title debuted at No. 1. She is tied with Morgan Wallen, whose One after the other accomplished the same feat before resigning.

With a twelfth week at number 1 – without ever deviating from that position – Swift broke out of her match with Whitney Houston. Until The “Tortured Poets” section spent his twelfth week at the top, the two women were tied for the honor of having the longest-serving leader Billboard 200 since its debut at No. 1, as Houston managed 11 frames at the top since its arrival until it finally relinquished control of the list in the ’80s.

If The “Tortured Poets” section had persevered and was at the top Billboard 200 for a thirteenth week, history would have been made once again. Just one release – Stevie Wonders Songs in the key of life– managed to stay at number 1 on the list a lucky 13 times.

Swift won’t match Wonder’s record, but she could return to the top. The “Tortured Poets” section is still going strong, and all the track needs to jump back to No. 1 is a quiet period with few major releases. It doesn’t seem like that’s in the cards for this upcoming period, with new projects from stars like Stray Kids and BTS singer Jimin vying for the top spot, but Swift’s latest effort shouldn’t be written off just yet.

The death of Slim Shady debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 281,000 units sold. This total is mostly made up of streaming units, as the tracks included on the project were played an incredible 220 million times on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music in the first tracking week that the full version was available. It also sold 114,000 copies despite being only available digitally.

ForbesEminem breaks away from Michael Jackson with his new No. 1 albumFrom Hugh McIntyre