It was a little late in the week, but yesterday Interscope announced that Eminem has landed at No. 1 for the second time within 12 months with Hell: The Sequel, the debut album from Bad Meets Evil, Eminem's collaboration with fellow Detroit native Royce Da 5'9", having sold 171,000 albums. This marks the first time in the last five years an artist has scored two No. 1 albums within a 12-month period.
Eminem and Royce Da 5'9," who first teamed up on the 1999 single "Scary Movies," debuted two tracks from Hell: The Sequel — "Fast Lane" and "Lighters" (featuring Bruno Mars) — during Eminem's critically hailed headlining June 11th performance at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in front of 80,000 fans, during which the crowd "poised on the brink, positively lost their collective minds," during the "hard-hitting, hit-packed" set, as MTV.com reported. The video for "Fast Lane" has racked up more than 6.2 million views on VEVO. Watch it here
Coming up for Eminem is the worldwide iTunes premiere of the video for "Space Bound," the fourth single from Recovery, which will be available to download exclusively on the iTunes Store this Friday, June 24th at approximately 5:00 PM EDT. The video will be able to be viewed at VEVO.com beginning Sunday night, June 26th, at midnight. The clip, filmed in Los Angeles in February, was directed by Joseph Kahn, who previously directed the clips for "Without Me, "We Made You," and "Love The Way You Lie."
The chart-topping bow of Hell: The Sequel, which includes production from long-time collaborator and D12 member, Mr. Porter (a/k/a Kon Artis), Havoc from Mobb Deep, DJ Khalil, and Bangladesh, occurs the same week one year ago that Eminem's seventh studio album, Recovery was released. The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart (Eminem's sixth album to do so), as well on as the R&B/Hip-Hop and Rap Albums charts, marking the beginning of a triumphant comeback for the artist. The best-selling album of 2010 in the U.S. and the best-selling digital album of all-time, Recovery has now sold more than 5.7 million copies worldwide, propelled by its No. 1 singles "Not Afraid" (which earned Eminem a Grammy Award for "Best Rap Solo Performance" and two MTV Video Music Awards, and has sold more than 3.4 million downloads in the U.S.) and "Love The Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, which spent seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has sold more than five million downloads in the U.S. and 9.3 million downloads worldwide. "Love The Way You Lie" earned five Grammy Award nominations, including "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year," and won Billboard Music, Soul Train, and People's Choice awards.
Eminem will continue his series of explosive live performances in August, including headlining slots at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 6th and the V Festival in the U.K. on August 20th and 21st. Please see below for all upcoming dates.
7/29 Montreal, CAN Osheaga Music and Arts Festival
8/05 Kansas City, KS Kanrocksas at Kansas Speedway
8/06 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza
8/19 Hasselt, BEL Pukkelpop Festival
8/20 Weston, Staffordshire, UK V Festival
8/21 Chelmsford, UK V Festival
8/24 Bangor, IRL Ward Park