Eminem Hits Million Mark Again

Eminem’s new “The Eminem Show” sold 1.3 million copies last week, making him the first solo artist to sell a million copies in a single week twice.

The Detroit rapper’s last album, 2000’s “The Marshall Mathers LP,” sold 1.76 million copies in its first week in stores. The only other albums by solo artists to top the million mark in a week: Britney Spears’ “Oops! ... I Did It Again,” which sold 1.3 million copies in August 2000, and Garth Brooks’ “Double Live,” which sold 1.1 million in December 1998.

‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys are the only other pop acts to sell more than a million in a week since Nielsen SoundScan began monitoring U.S. sales a decade ago. Both groups have broken the barrier twice, with ‘N Sync’s “No Strings Attached” first-week tally of 2.4 million in 2000 holding the record for one-week sales.

The 1.3 million for “The Eminem Show” follows the 285,000 copies that were sold before the official May 28 release date. Numerous stores began selling it four days early in hopes of combating widespread downloading and piracy of the album.

“The Eminem Show” was so dominant in the marketplace last week that it nearly outsold the rest of the week’s top 25 sellers combined. It led the week’s sales runner-up, P. Diddy & Bad Boy Records’ “We Invented the Remix,” by more than 1.2 million copies.

“It’s hard to draw any conclusions about whether downloads helped or hurt the album’s sales,” said Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for Billboard magazine. “Because total album sales have been down every week so far this year when compared to the same week last year, downloading appears to hurt sales overall.

“But if there’s a blockbuster album, fans seem to want it so bad that they’ll download it and then buy it as well--and the Eminem album is certainly a blockbuster. It is likely to be No. 1 for several weeks.”

The remaining positions on this week’s Top 10 are held by, in order, Ashanti, Cam’ron, Celine Dion, Marc Anthony, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Chesney, Vol. 9 in the “Now That’s What I Call Music” compilations and Musiq.

The best-selling single remains ‘N Sync’s pairing with Nelly on “Girlfriend.”