For the last 52 years, the music chart bible has been Billboard. It is where the best selling, most successful artists can be found any given week.
This week, for only the 16th time in the prestigious chart’s history, a song debuted in first spot without having to climb its way up the ladder. Eminem and his track Not Afraid opened at the top.
The rapper joins some illustrious company, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson to name a few. It is becoming increasingly easy to debut at number one; most of the artists who achieved this have done so in the past 15 years.
Mariah Carey holds the record with three songs debuting at number one. The last artist to accomplish this feat was Britney Spears when her song 3 dropped last year. Four artists from the American Idol television show have also done it in recent years.
Not Afraid is the first single off Eminem’s new album Recovery. The album is being released on June 22.