Eminem dethrones Taylor Swift and takes a valuable record away from her

Eminem has dethroned the Queen. The Detriot rapper’s twelfth studio album, ‘The Death of Slim Shady’, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, throwing off Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which had held the top spot for the past twelve weeks.

The news comes in the midst of Taylor Swift’s controversial attempts to stay at the top of the charts, as the famous ‘Miss Americana’ released dozens of different versions of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ to keep her place, overshadowing the releases of other women in the industry, such as Charlie XCX and Katy Perry.

The record that Eminem took from Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift occupied the top position of the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks, becoming the only woman in history to achieve this record. Previously, the record belonged to Whitney Houston with 1987′s ‘Whitney’, which spent 11 weeks at number one.

The only other album to have lasted 12 weeks at number one, besides ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, is Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ from 2023. The only project to beat both albums is Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ from 1976, which spent 14 consecutive weeks at number one. Taylor Swift came within two weeks of breaking that record; however, Slim Shady got in the way.

‘The Death of Slim Shady’ is hip hop’s biggest debut so far this year. According to Billboard, Eminem’s twelfth album ranks fourth on the list of the year’s biggest releases by selling more than 281,000 copies in its first week.

The only three albums above the rapper are Billie Eilish’s ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’ with 339,000 copies sold, Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ with 407,000 and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department with 2.6 million.