His “The Monster” settled for number two on this week’s Hot 100, but Eminem will still enjoy a view from the top this week.
Following a week-long vacation to make way for Lady Gaga’s “ARTPOP,” Em’s “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” returns to the top of the Billboard 200. The album, now in its third week on the chart, moved an additional 120,000 copies.
If one were thinking “ARTPOP,” like “MMLP2,” would spend its second week at number two on the Billboard 200, he would be wrong. Because the album’s weekly total fell by a whopping 82%–the largest weekly decline for a number one this year–to just 46,000, it was forced to settle for number eight on the weekly sales chart.
Second place instead went to Five Finger Death Punch’s “The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2,” which moved 77,000 copies in its debut. The preceding “Volume 1,” which also started at number two, moved 110,000 first-week copies.
NOW 48 claimed third place on the strength of 63,000, while The Robertsons’ “Duck the Halls” was fourth with 60,000. Lacking a Taylor Swift track–or any notable single–the soundtrack to “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” settled for fifth with just 55,000 sales. The first “Hunger Games” soundtrack moved a far stronger 175,000.
Down significantly from the 129,000 mark for predecessor “Break the Spell,” which was itself down significantly from the act’s previous sales totals, Daughtry’s “Baptized” started at number six with 55,000.
Yo Gotti’s “I Am” placed seventh with 48,000, besting the Gaga album (46,000, #8), Kelly Clarkson’s “Wrapped in Red” (44,000, #9) and KTCZ’s “Cities 97 Sampler, Live From Studio C: Vol. 25” (40,000, #10).
