“Recovery,” Eminem’s rapid-fire follow-up to last year’s “Relapse,” is on pace for a massive opening sales frame.
Based on two day sales extensions from Hits Daily Double, the album is currently tracking for first week sales of 590-615,000, which would put its opening right in the realm of the “Relapse” debut.
While “Relapse” benefitted from being Eminem’s first studio album in years, “Recovery” entered the market as a follow-up to an album that struck out with critics and failed to develop long-term hit singles. Considering those disadvantages, “Recovery”‘s ability to open to the tune of 600,000 is an absolute accomplishment.
If tracking holds, “Recovery” will bow with considerably more strength than Drake’s “Thank Me Later,” which sold 447,000 copies last week. It will also give Eminem the best debut sales week year-to-date by a margin of about 100,000.