Eminem's 'Kamikaze' Set for No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200 Albums Chart

Eminem is on course for his ninth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart next week, according to industry forecasters. His surprise new release, Kamikaze, will easily start with over 225,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Sept. 6 -- though its final first-week figure will likely be larger.

How big will Kamikaze get? Well, forecasting Kamikaze’s debut frame is a little more difficult than usual, owed to its surprise release, how it’s only available to purchase as a digital album (the first time an Eminem set has not been available on CD in its first week) and how the long Labor Day holiday weekend will impact consumer behavior. The CD edition of Kamikaze is due out on Friday, Sept. 7.

Kamikaze was released without warning on Aug. 31 via Shady/Aftermath/Interscope Records to digital retailers and streaming services. It is the hip-hop superstar’s follow-up to his 2017 release Revival. The latter started atop the Billboard 200 with 267,000 units earned in its first week, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 197,000 were in traditional album sales.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top 10 of the Sept. 15-dated Billboard 200 chart -- where Kamikaze should debut at No. 1 -- is scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s websites on Sunday, Sept. 9.

Other albums aiming for high debuts on next week’s Billboard 200 chart include Troye Sivan’s second full-length studio set Bloom and Why Don’t We’s debut full-length studio effort 8 Letters.