Eminem's "Recovery" blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 741,000—the largest sales week for a single album since October 2008 . . . It's his sixth straight No. 1 debut and sixth overall chart-topper . . . He also tops the Digital Songs tally this week with "Love the Way You Lie" (with Rihanna) . . . Joining "Recovery" on the Billboard 200 are debuts in the top 10 from Miley Cyrus, Ozzy Osbourne and the Roots.
FLASH POINTS
• As projected last week, Eminem's "Recovery" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with a massive 741,000 copies sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the biggest sales week for a single album since October 2008, when AC/DC's "Black Ice" debuted with 784,000 in its first week.
• "Recovery" is the hip-hop king's sixth straight No. 1 debut and sixth overall chart-topper. His only set to miss the top spot was his "Slim Shady LP" debut, which bowed and peaked at No. 2 in 1999. Among hip-hop artists with the most No. 1 albums, only Jay-Z has earned more, with 11.
• The debut-week sales for "Recovery" surpass the first week of Eminem's last set, "Relapse," which began at No. 1 in 2009 with 608,000. It also beats the opening of 2005's "Curtain Call: The Hits," which entered at No. 1 with 441,000.
• Eminem's new album also wows digitally, as downloads made up 255,000 of its first week. That's the second-biggest digital week for an album in history. Only Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" notched a larger frame, when it debuted with 288,000 downloads in the summer of 2008.
• It's likely that "Recovery" will hold at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for at least another week—if not two more—as yesterday's (June 29) slate of new releases probably won't pose a threat to the hip-hop king's chart reign. Next week we'll see new entries from 3Oh!3's "Streets of Gold" and the-Dream's "Love King," and the week after, Enrique Iglesias' "Euphoria" and Kylie Minogue's "Aphrodite," among other titles.
• Eminem also naturally makes big news on the Digital Songs chart with his "Recovery" collaboration with Rihanna titled "Love the Way You Lie." It debuts at No. 1 with 338,000 downloads sold. It's the sixth time Em has topped the Digital Songs chart and the second time he's done it this year, following the entry of "Not Afraid" atop the list in May with 379,000.
• Last week's Billboard 200 No. 1, Drake's "Thank Me Later," falls to No. 2 with 157,000 (down 65%). The chart's second-highest debut is Miley Cyrus' "Can't Be Tamed," which enters at No. 3 with 102,000. Cyrus' last proper full-length studio album was 2008's "Breakout," which started at No. 1 with 371,000. Since then, she's charted with three different "Hannah Montana" releases and the "Time of Our Lives" EP.
• Ozzy Osbourne's "Scream" bows at No. 4 with 81,000, giving the rock legend his lucky seventh top 10 album. His last release, "Black Rain," entered at No. 3 in 2007 with 152,000. This week's final top 10 debut comes from the Roots' "How I Got Over," starting at No. 6 with 51,000. It's the hip-hop group's fifth top 10 effort and it follows 2008's "Rising Down," which started at No. 6 with 54,000.
• As for the rest of the top 10 this week, the "Now 34" compilation drops one slot to No. 5 (55,000; down 38%), and Jack Johnson's "To the Sea" slips two rungs to No. 7 (44,000; down 36%). Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" slips one position to No. 8 (43,000; down 9%), Sarah McLachlan's "Laws of Illusion" descends from No. 3 to No. 9 with 38,000 (down 59%), and the "Twilight: Eclipse" soundtrack falls four to No. 10 (38,000; down 30%).
• This week last year on the album charts, in the wake of Michael Jackson's death, the King of Pop ruled with the top three best-selling albums in the United States as "Number Ones," "The Essential Michael Jackson" and "Thriller" ranked at Nos. 1-3 with 108,000, 102,000 and 101,000, respectively. This week, as the public commemorated the first anniversary of his death on June 25, a number of Jackson's albums make gains on the Billboard 200. His "Number Ones" set rises from No. 100 to No. 42 (10,000; up 86%) while "Essential" climbs from No. 157 to No. 53 (8,000; up 116%) and "Thriller" re-enters at No. 79 (6,000; up 71%), as does "This Is It" at No. 96 (5,000; up 64%).
• Also, Nielsen BDS reports that last week, between June 25 and June 28, Jackson's songs (solo, or with the Jackson 5 or the Jacksons) earned 25,703 detections on monitored U.S. terrestrial radio stations. Comparatively, last year between June 25 and June 28, his songs were played 64,237 times.
• Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending June 27) totaled 6.06 million units, down 1% compared with the sum last week (6.13 million) and down 3% compared with the comparable sales week of 2009 (6.2 million). Year-to-date album sales stand at 148.4 million, down 11% compared with the same total at this point last year (165.9 million).
• Digital track sales this past week totaled 21.6 million downloads, up 1% compared with last week (21.4 million) and down 8% compared with the comparable week of 2009 (23.4 million). Year-to-date track sales are at 575.9 million, up less than 1% compared with the same total at this point last year (575.7 million).
Source
Subject: Eminem's 'Recovery' Explodes At No. 1 On Billboard 200 With 741,000 Debut 
