Eminem’s new ‘Encore’ sells early and often

Eminem’s “Encore” album got off to a powerful start over the weekend with sales that could run as high as 600,000 to 700,000 after just three days in stores. Although the album originally was scheduled for release today, most retailers around the country started selling it Friday, and early reports indicate it should enter the national album chart at No. 1 next week.

“It’s been huge for us,” Tower Records Southwest region director Bob Feterl said Monday. Based on the chain’s sales through Sunday, Feterl said he wouldn’t be surprised if the album’s national three-day total tops 600,000, a figure that probably would best new greatest-hits collections by Shania Twain, Toby Keith and Britney Spears that arrived in stores Tuesday.

Retailers traditionally put new albums on sale each Tuesday, and record company sales campaigns are usually tied to Tuesday release dates. But in recent years, some of the most highly anticipated albums have been put on sale ahead of the street date because record executives and retailers fear that digital downloading over the Internet will erode sales.

The Detroit rapper’s “The Eminem Show” album went on sale the weekend ahead of its scheduled release date in 2002, logging sales of 285,000 copies by the time the Nielsen SoundScan charts closed Sunday for that week’s results.

The early release of “The Eminem Show” caught most retailers, and fans, by surprise, but this time things are different. Eminem’s label, Aftermath/Interscope, announced more than a week ahead of time that “Encore” would be released early.

His 2000 album, “The Marshall Mathers LP,” sold 1.76 million during its first week; “The Eminem Show” posted a first full-week figure of 1.3 million.