As reported yesterday, Eminem makes a splash at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, as his new album "The Marshall Mathers LP 2" debuts atop the list with 792,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It marks the second-largest sales week of the year, behind only the arrival of Justin Timberlake's "The 20/20 Experience," which started with 968,000 in March. The year's second-largest week had been the debut of Drake's "Nothing Was the Same" (658,000).

"The Marshall Mathers LP 2" ("MMLP2") also logs the sixth-biggest sales week of the past five years. Since November of 2008, the only larger weeks were earned by Taylor Swift's "Red" (2012, 1.2 million its debut), Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" (2011, 1.1 million debut), Swift's "Speak Now" (2010, 1 million debut), Timberlake, and Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter IV" (2011, 964,000 debut).

"MMLP2" marks Eminem's seventh No. 1 album -- all consecutive, and all debuts at No. 1. His only album to miss the top slot was his first release, 1999's "The Slim Shady LP." It debuted and peaked at No. 2.

Impressively, "MMLP2" posts a larger debut than Eminem's last album, 2010's "Recovery," which started with 741,000. And, both albums bowed bigger than his previous set, 2009's "Relapse," which entered with 608,000.

To put "MMLP2's" sales figure in perspective: It sold more than the combined sales of the Nos. 2-32 albums on the Billboard 200 this week. Further, "MMLP2" accounted for 14% of all album sales. Another way to look at it: 1 out of every 7.2 albums sold was "MMLP2."

One of those other albums is Celine Dion's "Loved Me Back To Life," which debuts at No. 2 with 77,000 sold. It's the diva's highest charting album since 2003's "One Heart" also bowed at No. 2. "Loved," however, tallies Dion's smallest start for an English-language studio album since 1993's "The Colour Of My Love" bowed with 16,000 (at No. 88). Her last studio set, 2007's "Taking Chances," debuted and peaked at No. 3 with 214,000 sold in its first week.

Two more debuts arrive in the top 10 this week: Avril Lavigne's self-titled album (No. 5 with 44,000) and Pentatonix's "PTX: Vol. II" (No. 10 with 31,000).

This is Lavigne's fifth straight top 10 -- her entire output so far. Yet, "Avril Lavigne's" first-week is the singer/songwriter's lowest yet, dipping below the 62,000 start of her "Let Go" debut in 2002.

On a more positive note, a capella group Pentatonix earns its best week ever, as its new album starts with 31,000. That easily trumps their earlier high-water mark, when "PTX: Volume 1" debuted and peaked at No. 14 with 18,000 back in 2012. They followed it with a holiday collection later that year, which reached No. 45 from a 12,000 launch.

As for the holdovers in the top 10, last week's No. 1, Arcade Fire's "Reflektor," falls to No. 9 with just over 31,000 (down 77%).

Meanwhile, another of last week's debuts -- the Robertsons' "Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas" -- actually grows in sales. The holiday set -- from the "Duck Dynasty" TV family -- surprisingly improves by 5% in its second week. It's an achievement not only because most albums decline in their sophomore frame, but also because Christmas albums traditionally don't start selling in great numbers until closer to Thanksgiving.

Comparatively, the other Christmas set that debuted in the top 10 last week -- Kelly Clarkson's "Wrapped In Red" -- falls from No. 3 to No. 6 with 43,000 (down 39%).

Katy Perry's "PRISM" dips 2-4 with 61,000 (down 33%), Drake's "Nothing Was the Same" falls 5-7 with 37,000 (down 3%) and Lorde's "Pure Heroine" is steady at No. 8 with 35,000 (up less than 1%).

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending Nov. 10) totaled 5.68 million units, up 21% compared with the sum last week (4.70 million) and up 4% compared with the comparable sales week of 2012 (5.45 million). Year to date album sales stand at 234.33 million, down 7% compared to the same total at this point last year (251.30 million).

Next week's Billboard 200 competes with the same week in 2012 when: One Direction's "Take Me Home" debuted at No. 1 with 540,000. Six more albums arrived in the top 10, with the "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" starting at No. 3 (93,000). Taylor Swift's "Red" fell from No. 1 to No. 2 in its fourth week on the chart (145,000; down 26%).

http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...lavigne-in-top

Damn, Eminem was really close to 800k. Incredible numbers, nonetheless.

These are horrible numbers for Avril, but on the high end/above predictions!

Good for Avril

Lorde When will the other under 21 year olds?

there is nothing worthy about those sales

That's normal and seems to be on par with TD's 3rd week:

So I don't get where your "" is coming from.

YASS AVRIL get that Top 5

I hope Katy can stay at #4 or even go up to #3 next week.

That is the second time Optimus has shown that he is oblivious to the charts.

Anyway, I think Eminem's album will hold up well now that "The Monster" is doing so well.

Avril
Drake, Katy, Lorde

Eminem is KING.

Eminem
Katy, Drake, & Lorde doing surprisingly well after weeks on the charts

Avril beating out Duca's title of "Avril misses Top 5".... lol Queen making top 5

#1. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2 - 793,000 (793,000)

#7. Drake - Nothing Was The Same - 37,000 (1,066,000)

#21. Lecrae - Church Clothes Vol. 2 - 15,000 (15,000)

#29. Linkin Park - Recharged - 11,000 (43,000)

#30. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP - 10,000 (10,766,000)

#32. Tech N9ne - Therapy Sessions With Ross Robinson- 10,000 (10,000)

#50. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist - 8,000 (1,132,000)

#58. Eminem - The Eminem Show - 7,000 (10,270,000)

#64. Eminem - Recovery - 7,000 (4,509,000)

#65. Jay Z - Magna Carta...Holy Grail - 6,000 (1,054,000)

#87. Pusha T - My Name Is My Name - 6,000 (119,000)

#99. DJ Khaled - Suffering From Success - 5,000 (41,000)

#100. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city - 5,000 (1,082,000)

Amazing PRISM

The Marshall Matters LP 2 Wow!

Eminem's catalog sales

#1 The Marshall Mathers LP 2 – 793,000
#30 The Marshall Mathers LP – 10,000 (Total 10,766,000)
#58 The Eminem Show – 7,000 (Total 10,270,000)
#64 Recovery – 7,000 (Total 4,509,000)
#94 Curtain Call – 5,000 (Total 3,778,000)
#115 The Slim Shady LP – 4,000 (Total 5,433,000)
#158 Encore – 3,000 (Total 5,343,000)
#159 Relapse – 3,000 (Total 2,335,000)

The King