Amarylla blog

Corrected: Eminem reclaims top spot on Billboard 200

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Eminem's "Recovery" rebounded to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday after two weeks of sitting by in the runner-up slot.

The record climbed back to the top with 133,000 units sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, down 13 percent from the previous week, but still knocking off last week's No. 1, Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs."

"Recovery" also earned its eighth consecutive week of selling at least 100,000 copies -- its entire chart life. The last time a set sold 100,000 or more in each of its first eight frames was back in November and December of last year, when Andrea Bocelli's "My Christmas" managed the achievement.

Previous to that, the last album with a greater initial start was the "Now 20" compilation, which began with nine consecutive weeks of 100,000 or more in November and December of 2005.

Total sales of "Recovery" also drove past the two million threshold this week to 2.1 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan, marking just the second album to do so this year. It's currently 2010's second-best seller behind Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (2.5 million).

At this point last year, no albums had surpassed more than two million in sales -- though seven sold at least one million.

This year, six albums have hit the million mark, with Usher's "Raymond v Raymond" the latest to cross the line. It sold another 15,000 this week.

Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" dropped to No. 2 in its second week with 52,000 units sold, down 66 percent. With its debut frame perhaps overly weighted with downloads due to sales pricing via Amazon.com's MP3 store, the group's second-week decline comes as no shocker. It fell 74 percent in download sales.

Eminem also moved back to No. 1 on the Digital Songs chart, where his "Love the Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna) moved up one spot with 254,000 units sold, down 9 percent.

The song replaced last week's No. 1-debuting "Mine" from Taylor Swift, which started with 297,000. This week, "Mine" dropped to No. 4 with 176,000, off 41 percent.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit and Bob Tourtellotte)