No, Eminem’s “Kamikaze” did not rocket to #1 on the US iTunes sales chart upon launching late Thursday night. The surprise album did, however, ultimately reach that pinnacle position. It remains atop the chart as of press time at 7:30AM ET Friday morning. Why Don’t We’s “8 Letters,” which spent the past several hours at #1, now ranks as the store’s #2 seller. Troye Sivan’s “Bloom” follows at #3, ahead of Jesus Culture’s new “Living With A Fire (Live)” (#4) and Amos Lee’s new “My New Moon” (#5). New releases from Alkaline Trio (#6), Tash Sultana (#7), and Bun B (#10) also occupy Top 10 positions at press time.<doc-sep>Shady’s back. And he’s about to make history. Eminem’s surprise album release Kamikaze (Interscope) is heading for the top of the Official U.K. Albums Chart, for what would be his ninth consecutive chart No. 1 in that territory, smashing the record for the most successive chart leaders that he currently holds with Led Zeppelin and ABBA (with eight apiece). According to the Official Charts Company, Kamikaze races to the summit of the midweek chart with a substantial lead over the rest. At the halfway point, Kamikaze is some 20,000 combined chart sales ahead of Idles’ second-placed Joy as an Act of Resistance (Partisan), with digital downloads accounting for 60% of its tally and the remainder from streaming equivalent sales. Kamikaze, Marshall Mathers’ 10th album, is not yet available in physical formats. Also flying high on the Official Albums Chart Update is singer and songwriter Passenger’s tenth studio effort Runaway (Black Crow), new at No. 5, while British alternative rockers The Kooks start at No. 7 with Let’s Go Sunshine (Lonely Cat), their fifth studio set. Aussie pop singer and producer Troye Sivan is on track for his second U.K. top 10 album with Bloom (Polydor), which bows at No. 8 on the midweek tally.<doc-sep>Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission. Eminem Releases Surprise Album Kamikaze — and Takes on Everyone from Trump to Harvey Weinstein Guess who’s back? On Thursday night at midnight, 15-time Grammy-winning rapper Eminem quietly dropped a surprise album, Kamikaze — teasing the release on Twitter (with a middle finger emoji) by writing, “Tried not 2 overthink this 1… enjoy.” Get push notifications with news, features and more. The LP, his second full-length studio album in eight months and tenth total in his career, was executive produced by the rapper and longtime collaborator/mentor Dr. Dre. Clocking in at around 45 minutes, Kamikaze contains 13 tracks — including the song “Venom,” written for the upcoming Tom Hardy-led supervillain movie of the same name. Emcees Joyner Lucas and Royce Da 5’9” as well as Canadian songstress Jessie Reyez, and Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon are among the guests, while interpolations include Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble,” and L.L. Cool J’s “I’m Bad,” among others. Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Manchester, USA - 09 Jun 2018 Credit: RMV/REX/Shutterstock And the album artwork? On the front, an illustrated rudder of a jet plane seemingly in homage to the Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill cover. On the rear, that same jet crashing in to a wall, its pilot flipping the bird. Of course, Eminem (né Marshall Mathers) is as outspoken as ever — Kamikaze‘s notes on Apple Music correctly tease, “Shady punches back, and he’s naming names.” The first track, “The Ringer,” sets the tone with the declaration, “I feel like I wanna punch the world in the f—ing face right now.” From there, there are shots at President Trump (“I empathize with the people this evil serpent sold the dream to that he’s deserted”), Vice President Mike Pence, Harvey Weinstein, Machine Gun Kelly, Joe Budden, Tyler, the Creator, and young rappers like Lil Pump, Lil Xan and Lil Yachty — the latter whom Eminem slams by asking, “Do you have any idea how much I hate this choppy flow everyone copies?” MTV EMAs 2017 - Show Eminem | Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images Music critics and the Grammy Awards are also targeted, both for slamming his previous album, 2017’s Revival(which hit at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts). “Are you really going just to deride everybody who, you don’t like what they have to say about you or the stuff you’re working on?” Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, asks on one of two “skit” tracks — which appear to just be recorded voicemail messages. “I don’t know if that’s really a great idea, it’s like what’s next? ‘Kamikaze 2: the album where you reply to everybody who didn’t like the album that you made replying to everybody that didn’t like the previous album?’ It’s a slippery slope, I don’t know if it’s really a good idea.” RELATED VIDEO: Eminem Raps His Regrets to Daughter Hailie, Including Near-Fatal OD and Public Feud With Ex Kim But Slim Shady’s anger isn’t all targeted outwards. “Stepping Stone,” arguably the LP’s most autobiographical track, sees the father reflecting on his personal demons — including the death of his former D12 bandmate Proof. “Imma wash away my sins / Imma rinse away this dirt,” he sings. “I forgot to make amends / To all the friends I may have hurt.”<doc-sep>
Eminem's newest Kamikaze album may have been a surprise, but the numbers it's projected to put up on the board are not. Hits Daily Double reports that the project will likely pull in 200,000 at the minimum within its first week, taking into account that Kamikaze physical releases have not yet rolled out. Last year, Em's Revival pulled 267,000 units in its debut run, with 197,000 of those coming from traditional sales. More tangible metrics can be observed through streaming platforms at the moment with Kamikaze occupying the Top 3 tracks on Apple Music with "The Ringer," the Joyner Lucas-assisted"Lucky You," and "Greatest." In total, eight of the Top 10 tracks and 13 of the Top 20 all belong to Eminem. Over on the iTunes charts, Kamikaze is currently the No. 1 album with four of the Top 10 tracks being his as well. Spotify's United States' tally has Em with the Top 3 songs with 13 sitting in the Top 20 while the album sits as the No. 1 digital album at Amazon. It's all with good reason, too. Thursday night marked the unprecedented arrival of Em's Kamikaze in which he essentially came for the jugular of anyone in sight with his producer Illadaproducer telling Rolling Stone that Kamikaze marks the return of Slim Shady. “Right away he comes out just blowing bad, spittin’. This is Eminem! Top five, dead or alive. I want to hear him go bad. And I got what I was looking for,” Illa told the publication. “A lot of Em’s more refined fans [...] they liked Revival. I liked Revival too. People wanted Slim Shady. […] So he went back in, and that’s why eight months, nine months later, we got Kamikaze.”