Billboard: Eminem Debuts at No. 1 With Second-Biggest Sales Week of 2013

Credit: Aftermath

Eminem just might be a "Rap God" after all, if sales have anything to do with status. And in a business that privileges the almighty dollar, some would argue it absolutely does.

Eminem has scored his seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which sold 792,000 units. This makes this the second-largest sales week of the year behind Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which debuted with 968,000 units in March. In addition, MMLP2 also marks the sixth-biggest sales week of the past five years, as the only albums to sell more since November 2008 have been Taylor Swift's Red (2012, 1.2 million debut), Lady Gaga's Born This Way (2011, 1.1 million debut), Swift's Speak Now (2010, 1 million debut), Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV (2011, 964,000 debut), and the aforementioned Timberlake debut.

The monster stats for the album don't stop there, as The Marshall Mathers LP 2 sold more than the combined sales of all albums from Nos. 2 through 32 this week, accounting for 14% of all album sales in the process.

But Eminem wasn't the only new album on the charts this week. Celine Dion makes her Billboard comeback with Loved Me Back To Life, which debuts at No. 2 with 77,000 copies sold, marking her highest-charting album since 2003's One Heart. Avril Lavigne's self-titled album debuted at No. 5 with 44,000 copies sold, while Pentatonix made their first top 10 appearance with PTX: Vol. II, which sold just under 31,000 copies to land the group at No. 10.

The news was also good for some of last week's holdovers, particularly the Robertsons. Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas actually increased in sales from last week, rising one spot to No. 3 with 73,000 copies sold. This is enough to topple the other big Christmas competition from last week -- Kelly Clarkson's Wrapped In Red, which falls from No. 3 to No. 6 with 43,000 copies sold.

Other artists are keeping steady as well. Katy Perry's PRISM falls to No. 4 with 61,000 copies sold, while Drake's Nothing Was the Same dips to No. 7 with 37,000 copies sold. Lorde's Pure Heroine holds down the fort at No. 8 with 35,000 copies sold, and that's pretty much where all the good news ends, as last week's No. 1, Arcade Fire's Reflektor, drops eight spots to No. 9 with just over 31,000 copies sold. This marks a drop of 77%, which makes it unlikely the album will still be in the top 10 come this time next week.

The full top 10:

1. The Marshall Mathers LP 2, Eminem (792,000 copies)

2. Loved Me Back To Life, Celine Dion (77,000 copies)

3. Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas, The Robertsons and Various Artists (73,000 copies)

4. PRISM, Katy Perry (61,000 copies)

5. Avril Lavigne, Avril Lavigne (44,000 copies)

6. Wrapped In Red, Kelly Clarkson (43,000 copies)

7. Nothing Was the Same, Drake (37,000 copies)

8. Pure Heroine, Lorde (35,000 copies)

9. Reflektor, Arcade Fire (31,000 copies)

10. PTX: Vol. II, Pentatonix (just under 31,000 copies)

Via: Billboard