Every once in a while comes a musician who leaves a legacy behind that defies time. Artists such as The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, The Beatles, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Sir Elton John, Queen, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, AC/DC, Abba, Aretha Franklin (we could keep going) are some from the long list of artists we consider to be iconic and immortal. Everybody loves them.
…And then comes Eminem AKA Slim Shady AKA Mr. Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Right off the bat, from the name itself, Eminem does not fit the mold of the above ‘legendary’ category. His Slim Shady alter-ego is possibly the second-most evil thing to bestow this Earth after Satan himself to most people. He has a foul mouth, has no self-control, wreckless in thought, angry, a druggie, and a school dropout. It’s as if Eminem was carefully put together to be hated on.
With all the baseless statements above, it is easy to overlook the genius of Eminem. He is a true master of the craft. And his craft is hip-hop and rap. It is undeniable the amount of impact Eminem has had throughout his career and continues to do so even today. He is 48-years-old in 2021.
This article is not about going through the legacy of Eminem’s entire career. That is a lengthy article and fans who have stuck around know his story in and out. This article is more about the impact Eminem exerts on music at half-a-century years old.
Let’s go through some facts;
- Eminem released TWO studio albums in 2020 (‘Music To Be Murdered By’ and ‘Music To Be Murdered By: Side B’)
- ‘Music To Be Murdered By’ debuted on top of Billboard 200 Chart
- ‘Music To Be Murdered By’ album sold over 1.5 million units in the US (only) in one and half years
- In 1 year, ‘Music To Be Murdered By’ album reached the iconic milestone of 2 billion Spotify streams
- Eminem matched the record held by Drake for most albums with over 2 billion streams on Spotify in June 2021. Eminem’s ‘Curtain Call: The Hits’ album broke this milestone. Both artists have 6 albums reaching this milestone
- Eminem has 4 albums (‘The Eminem Show’ with 3.2 billion, ‘The Marshall Mathers LP2’ with 2.7 billion, ‘Kamikaze’ with 2.3 billion, and ‘Music To Be Murdered By’ with 2 billion) on Spotify’s most streamed albums of all time list
- Also, take a moment to appreciate that ‘The Eminem Show,’ an album released in 2002 (20 years ago) has amassed 3.2 billion streams on Spotify. The streaming service was established in 2006 and gained popularity towards 2010
- Eminem’s ‘Music To Be Murderd By’ is ranked at #9 on list of Best-selling pure albums in the 2020s decade so far (competing artists ahead Eminem are Taylor Swift, BTS, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, and Lady Gaga)
- Eminem has two albums (‘Kamikaze’ with 252,000, and ‘Music To Be Murdered By’ with 117,000) on the list of physical album copies sold in rap genre. He is only fallen short of Travis Scott with his album ‘ASTROWORLD’ selling 270,000 units.
- Eminem took the third spot on Genius’s 2021 in lyrics (so far) (June 2021) list with over 8 million page views in Eminem’s song lyrics. He fell short only to Taylor Swift (10 million) and Olivia Rodrigo with (12 million)
- In May 2021, GQ magazine ranked Eminem as the fifth most valuable musician in the world. He only fell behind Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and Drake
- In June 2021, Eminem dominated YouTube streams as the most-viewed rapper with 317 million views. He was followed by Lil Baby and Drake with only 196 million views each.
- In the seven months ending July 2021, Eminem has accumulated over 2 billion on-demand streams only in the US.
- Eminem makes into the top 5 artists with most US digital no. 1s with 11 songs, the leaderboard is dominated by artists such as Taylor Swift (22 songs), Rihanna (14 songs), Justin Bieber (13 songs), and Drake (12 songs).
- At the time of this article, Eminem took the 6th spot on global streaming stats (only behind Drake, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Post Malone, and The Weeknd)
- Eminem’s social media stats: Instagram – 32.1 million, Facebook – 93 million, Twitter – 22.5 million, Spotify – 45 million, YouTube – 48.2 million
- Eminem is the fifth-most followed artist on Spotify (only behind Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Drake, and Justin Bieber)
- Also, there is no one in the music industry right now who can do what Eminem does with words, syllables, rhymes, schemes, stories, entendres, and the whole works.
- Eminem has the longest-charting hip-hop album ‘Curtain Calls: The Hits’ with 535 week streak on Billboard 200 Chart.
- Eminem is the 7th most-streamed artist on Spotify with 24 billion streams. Drake is #1 with 39 billion streams.
- Finally, one for all-time glory. Eminem is ranked at #13 on all-time best-selling artists (with physical sales and streams combined). In this list, he is beat by some iconic names such as The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Queen, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Elton John, U2, Celine Dion, AC/DC. However, if you look closely, Eminem is the only active name in this list to date. A possible competition to Eminem would be an artist of the calibre of Taylor Swift, who currently sits at #42 on the list.
The reason for us to mention the artists who are competing with Eminem on many of these accolades is to show that there is no one from Eminem’s generation in there. Almost all of the artists with greater streaming or album sales stats are from a more recent time and thus a more recent and younger and more energetic generation.
With all these statistics present, some had the audacity to call Eminem ‘irrelevant’ in this decade. LMAO! Being 48-years-old and still raking up billions of views, streams, and sales is a true testament to his greatness and to his ability to adapt.
He has worked with old-school rappers and is working with new-generation rappers. And he is out-rapping them all. Does he have to? Does he have anything left to prove? No. But he still does it for the love of the game.
#GoatForAReason
Drop a comment below to show your appreciation for Eminem. Let us know how Eminem has impacted your life. Let’s normalize appreciating talent instead of hating for clout.
(Most of these facts were sourced from Eminem.news, an amazing website dedicated to everything Eminem and the Shady family. Do check them out).