It’s a Record Week for Eminem’s ‘Marshall Mathers’

His name is Slim Shady, but his sales totals these days are looking fat.

Eminem’s second album, “The Marshall Mathers LP,” debuts at No. 1 on the nation’s album charts after posting what is believed to be the second-best single-week sales total in history. The disc sold 1.76 million copies, a mark exceeded only by ‘N Sync’s “No Strings Attached,” which sold 2.4 million copies during one week in March.

Eminem now has the record for the best week of sales for a solo artist--a title that belonged to teen queen Britney Spears for all of one week. Her sophomore album, “Oops! . . . I Did It Again,” debuted last week with 1.3 million copies sold, but this week drops a notch to No. 2 with 612,000 sold.

The Detroit rapper’s graphic language may delight fans, but it has drawn a lot of fire as well: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, for instance, criticized him this week for peppering the new album with slurs against gays.

In a recent MTV interview, Eminem cited one of his lyrics as a defense: “I also go on to say, ‘Relax, guy, I like gay men.’ So it’s kind of like leaving it up in the air. Do I really hate gay people, or do I not? It’s up to you to decide.”

With the biggest debut week in rap history, Eminem, who is white, has also cemented his standing in a music community created and dominated by black performers. He is also enjoying crossover success with some alternative and modern rock radio stations, such as Los Angeles powerhouse KROQ-FM (106.7), which has added Eminem to its playlist and to the bill of its upcoming Weenie Roast concert.

An eclectic field of new releases also makes its way onto the chart this week, led by Matchbox Twenty’s “Mad Season,” the follow-up to its hit 1996 debut, “Yourself or Someone Like You.” “Mad Season” opens at No. 3 with 365,000 copies sold.

A Perfect Circle--a new band fronted by Tool singer Maynard James Keenan--debuts at No. 4 with “Mer De Noms”, a collection that sold 188,000 copies. Rock veteran Don Henley’s first studio album in 11 years, “Inside Job,” debuts at No. 7 with 114,000 copies sold, while country singer Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” sold 76,000 copies to debut at No. 17. The hit single “Dance Tonight” helped the debut album from Lucy Pearl, an R&B; supergroup featuring members of En Vogue, A Tribe Called Quest and Tony Toni Tone, open at No. 26 with 59,000 sold.