Eminem‘s The Marshall Mathers LP 2 was expected to sell around 750,000 copies in its first week of sales, a very respectable prediction. It exceeded that by a whole 42,000, bringing Em’s first week sales to a grand total of 792,000.

This means that the Detroit-emcee is second to only Justin Timberlake‘s The 20/20 Experience (968,000 copies) as far as having the most first week sales this year. In third is Drake‘s Nothing Was the Same (658,000 copies).

This isn’t a complete surprise after news spread of Eminem being the first artist since The Beatles, in 1964, to have four singles listed in the Top 20, simultaneously. “Berzerk”, “Rap God”, “Survival” and “The Monster” were the four singles that topped the charts.

MMLP2 marks the seventh consecutive album to debut at No. 1 on the charts for Eminem. The only album that missed the No. 1 spot was The Slim Shady LP, his first studio album in 1999, which debuted at No. 2.– Keith Reid-Cleveland

[Via]