Eminem‘s new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is set to make a big splash on the Billboard charts, judging by its first-week sales projections.
HITS Daily Double reported on Monday (July 15) that the project is expected to earn between 270,000 and 290,000 album-equivalent units in its opening week.
AD LOADING...
This would secure Em a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200, dethroning Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department after a dominant 12 consecutive weeks atop the chart.
It would also mark the Detroit rap legend’s 11th No. 1 album, putting him level with Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand. Only Drake (13), Swift (14), JAY-Z (also 14) and The Beatles (19) have more.
AD LOADING...
While the 270-290K ballpark sits at the lower end of the spectrum for Eminem, whose 2000 album The Marshall Mathers LP opened with a staggering 1.78 million units, The Death of Slim Shady could still outsell more recent efforts like Revival (267,000) and Music to be Murdered By (279,000).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the album has stirred controversy since its release last Friday. Earlier this week, Eminem received a fiery response from conservative commentator Candace Owens after dissing her on the Dr. Dre-produced “Lucifer.”
AD LOADING...
“And Candace O, I ain’t mad at her / I ain’t gon’ throw the fact bitch forgot she was Black back at her / Laugh at her like them crackers she’s backin’ after her back is turned / In a cute MAGA hat with her brand-new White Lives Matter shirt,” he rapped.
He continued: “Or say this MAGA dirtbag in a skirt / Just opened the biggest can of worms on the whole planet Earth / Call her Grand Wizard, Klandace Grand Dragon or / Like the national anthem, I won’t stand for the tramp / But I can’t diss her ’cause my plans are to get in her pants and I’ll blow my chance if I answer back to her.”
AD LOADING...
Owens responded to Eminem in a lengthy rant on her YouTube channel, accusing of him being a closeted homosexual.
“First thing I wanna say is Eminem is obviously a gay man. It’s very sad that Eminem cleaned out his closet but never came out of his closet,” she said, referencing his 2002 hit.
She added: “I just would like to again remind people that he is in fact a struggling internally gay man and we should pray for him.”
Owens also claimed that she decided to respond to his lyrics to “help him go viral” because “this is very sad. I want you to feel sad for Eminem ’cause this is just not the way for someone’s career to go down the drain […] He can be relevant just by me speaking about him.”
AD LOADING...
“It would have meant something if he was at his prime,” she added. “He is not at the peak of his career; he is at the end of it. His career should have ended, like, 15 years ago and he keeps going.”
The Death of Slim Shady also saw Eminem take shots at Diddy over his alleged history of rape and brutal assault of Cassie, as well as Ja Rule, Lizzo and “corny white rappers.”
