Eminem released Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005. The album pulled together 13 of Slim Shady’s biggest hits from his first four major label albums — 1999’s The Slim Shady LP, 2000’s The Marshal Mathers LP, 2002’s The Eminem Show and 2004’s Encore as well as four new songs, including a live version of “Stan” with Elton John, “Fack,” “When I’m Gone” and “Shake That” featuring Nate Dogg.
Billed as Shady’s second compilation album, the project debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling roughly 441,000 copies in its first week. Since then, it’s been certified 7x-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has remained on the Billboard chart for a staggering 496 weeks, which comes out to almost 10 years.
According to Billboard and Southpawer, a zealous Eminem fan site, Curtain Call has re-entered this week’s chart at No. 59.
Eminem's album "Curtain Call : The Hits" re-enters at #59 on this week's Billboard 200 charts.
Total weeks – 496 pic.twitter.com/26FezUftEe
— Southpawer (@Southpawers) October 7, 2020
Curtain Call already holds the crown for longest-running rap album in Billboard’s history, hitting 350 weeks in August 2017. It still trails far behind Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic Dark Side of The Moon, which remained on the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988.
In 1999, the anointed “rap god” spoke to Spin magazine about his then-blossoming career and was asked what would happen if The Slim Shady LP blew up to which he replied, “I imagine I’ll go through a lot of this same racial shit, but that’ll just make my second album better — because I’ll have even more to rap about.”
And he was right. His sophomore album The Marshal Mathers LP is widely regarded as his best work. It went on to sell over 25 million copies, earning Em the very special distinction of a diamond-selling MC.
Although it’s unclear what led to Curtain Call‘s massive jump in sales, HipHopDX has reached out to a rep in hopes of collecting a little insight into the surge.
In the meantime, revisit Curtain Call: The Hits below.