Lady Gaga’s ‘ARTPOP’ earns the number one spot, Eminem holds on

Story highlights

Gaga's new album sold about 258,000 copies in its first week

It's a long way from the numbers she did with "Born This Way"

"ARTPOP" narrowly bested Eminem's "The Marshall Mathers LP 2"

EW.com  — 

All’s well that ends well, as they say: After a multi-platform promotional blitz, Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP is the number one album in the country this week. Billboard reports that Gaga’s new album sold about 258,000 copies in its first week of release, giving her the second chart-topping debut of her career.

As previously discussed, it’s a long way from the numbers she did with Born This Way back in 2011,though it still gives her the third biggest debut for a woman in 2013 behind Katy Perry’s Prism and Miley Cyrus’ Bangerz.

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ARTPOP narrowly bested Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which sold 210,000 copies in its second week of release. Three other albums made their debuts in the top 10 this week: Now 48 (no. 3 with 114,000), the Beatles On Air: Live at the BBC Vol. 2 (no. 7, with 37,000), and Jhené Aiko’s Sail Out EP (no. 8 with 34,000).

The next big chart question is, “When will Lorde’s ‘Royals’ be dethroned?” Though we won’t know what song is on the top of the Billboard Hot 100 until later today, it looks an awful lot like Eminem’s “The Monster” could make a run at the top.

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The track is the top-selling digital song of the week (it moved 243,000 copies), and the track has been embraced by both hip-hop and pop radio thanks to Rihanna’s hook. “The Monster” was the number two song in the country last week, and looks primed to make the move to knock “Royals” off its seven-week perch.

See the original story at EW.com.