Eminem’s ‘Recovery’ Crashes To #1, Leaves Miley Cyrus In The Dust

Robbie Daw | June 30, 2010 10:00 am

Hip hop’s poutiest MC Eminem achieves a colossal debut on the Billboard Top 200 Albums this week with Recovery. After posting sales of 741,000 copies, Em snags the highest debut of the year (a title previously held by Sade, who moved 502,000 copies of Soldier Of Love back in February). This also marks the best sales week for an album since music buyers grabbed 784,000 copies of AC/DC’s Black Ice in October 2008. Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed, however, came whimpering in like a puppy on a leash. See below!

Sales of Recovery over the past week also beat the 608,000 that Eminem’s last album, Relapse, moved in May 2009. This now bumps last week’s #1 album, Drake’s Thank Me Later, down one position.

Coming in at #3 is Miley Cyrus’ Can’t Be Tamed. While we want to say the opinionated teen singer probably wishes her label had chosen a release date not coinciding with Eminem’s Recovery, something tells us the two performers actually probably have very different fan bases. They are, however, both known at this point for being controversial.

Can’t Be Tamed managed to only sell 102,000 copies, which is a far cry from the 371,000 her previous album Breakout opened with in summer 2008. Chalk it up to the LP’s same-titled first single debuting high on the Hot 100 (at #8) in May then dropping quickly. (Currently it’s floundering at #22.)

Only two other releases—Ozzy Osbourne’s tenth studio album Scream (#4) and How I Got Over by Late Night With Jimmy Fallon house band The Roots (#6)—dent the Top 10 this week.

On the horizon: it looks to be a soft week, currently, as the only major new releases to pop up yesterday were The-Dream’s Love King, 3OH!3’s Streets Of Gold and Scissor Sisters’ Night Work.

The Top 10 of Billboard’s Top 200 Albums:

1. Eminem, Recovery *new* 2. Drake, Thank Me Later 3. Miley Cyrus, Can’t Be Tamed *new* 4.Ozzy Osbourne, Scream *new* 5. Various Artists, NOW That’s What I Call Music 34 6. The Roots, How I Got Over *new* 7. Jack Johnson, To The Sea 8. Justin Bieber, My World 2.0 9. Sarah McLachlan, Laws Of Illusion 10. Various Artists, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse