Not only did Eminem secure a chart double on the back of the surprise-release of his 11th studio album, Music To Be Murdered By, he also broke a record in the process. And pulled off one of the closest victories in the singles chart ever.
Godzilla, Eminem’s collaboration with the late Juice Wrld, hit the top of the singles chart selling 52,633 according to Official Charts Company data.
The track – Eminem’s 10th No.1 single, and also the first posthumous hit for Juice Wrld, who died in December 2019, aged just 21 – marked one of the closest fights in UK singles history. Godzilla beat Compton rapper Roddy Ricch’s viral hit The Box by just 93 chart sales.
An Official Charts Company press release stated that the closest ever recorded chart battle in the UK was back in 2007 when Timbaland’s The Way I Are pipped Kate Nash’s Foundations to No.1 by just 16 sales.
Eminem and Juice Wrld's song also claimed the top spot in its debut week, a feat the Official Charts Company notes only three acts achieved last year: Stormzy’s Vossi Bop, Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber’s I Don’t Care, and LadBaby’s I Love Sausage Rolls.
Music To Be Murdered By’s official lead single Darkness entered at No.17, while Eminem’s collaboration with Ed Sheeran, Those Kinda Nights, entered at No.12.
Eminem’s best-selling single in the UK remains 2002’s Lose Yourself from the 8 Mile soundtrack, which has sold 2,210,587 copies to date.
On the album's chart, Eminem's Music To Be Murdered By debuted at No.1, selling 36,302 copies according to OCC data, besting Courteeners’ More Again Forever (24,724 – OCC), which led the chart race at the midweek stage.
The result extends Eminem’s record-breaking run of consecutive No.1 albums to ten – a feat no other act in UK chart history has managed.
Eminem’s similarly surprise-released 2018 album Kamikaze racked up first week sales of 55,115 copies (including 30,041 from sales-equivalent downloads). It has sold 319,730 copies to date. Music To Be Murdered By is yet to receive a physical release.
Eminem’s highest-selling studio album in the UK remains 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP which has sold 2,587,605. His 2005 greatest hits set Curtain Call has sold 2,306,873.
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