Eminem has had what can only be described as a breathtaking journey in his career. From being homeless, working fast food jobs and battle-rapping in the grimiest parts of Detroit, the young man was quickly flung into fame and was soon a Diamond-certified artist.
The rapper (real name Marshall Mathers) has always remained open about his struggles and has always been brutally honest with himself and others. From his tenuous relationship with his mother, Debbie Mathers, to his battles with addiction, the rapper had tribulations.
However, none of it can overshadow his vast success within hip hop. Before the release of his Slim Shady LP in late 1999, Mathers was a musical genius on the verge of suicide due to his extreme poverty. The rapper had been on the underground in Detroit for years and, before signing with Dr Dre, was in the middle of a breakdown.
Eminem’s debut independent album, Infinite, performed horribly, receiving little to no airplay by DJs in his city, and as a white rapper, everybody wrote Mathers off as a parody. Primarily operating as a battle rapper, Mathers was encouraged to compete at the 1997 Rap Olympics.
Here, he was unknowingly saved by a label intern in the crowd. Mathers’ demo quickly ended up in the hands of Dr Dre and was, shortly after, signed by him. As an artist of Aftermath Records, Mathers was encouraged by Dre to create a proper body of work to be commercially released.
This was the moment that Slim Shady was born. The Slim Shady LP exploded into the mainstream and became certified triple platinum by the end of the year. From here, Mathers became unstoppable and, for a decade, was one of hip hop’s best-selling artists.
Despite all of the success, there is no denying Mathers’ career has seen dizzying heights and god-awful lows, so with such an illustrious career, it is only fitting that we look back and analyse the facts and figures that detail the astonishing career of Eminem otherwise known as Slim Shady.
Eminem’s solo albums
Across his 23-year career, Eminem has released 11 studio albums, two compilation albums, two collaborative albums, one EP and curated one soundtrack. To date, the rapper’s most successful album is his 2002 album, The Eminem Show. The album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and went to number one in over seven countries.
The album is officially the highest-selling rap album of all time and has officially been certified Diamond by the RIAA. The album sold just under three million copies in the US alone. It was Mathers’ second album to receive a Diamond certification in the United States and even achieved Double Diamond status in Australia.
Eminem’s most streamed song
Eminem’s most streamed song is ‘Lose Yourself’ which appears on the soundtrack for Eminem’s semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile. The film sees Eminem play a disheartened and impoverished battle rapper from Detroit who’s looking to make it big time.
Currently, one of Eminem’s most beloved songs ‘Lose Yourself’ sits at approximately 1.6 billion streams on Spotify. The music video features snippets from the movie.
Eminem’s biggest video on YouTube
Eminem has a lot of music videos on YouTube however, currently, as a lead artist, his most streamed video on the platform is the music video for The Eminem Show’s lead single, ‘Without Me’. The music video currently sits at around 1.5 billion views.
As a featured artist, one of Mathers most streamed YouTube videos is ‘Forgot About Dre’ by Dr Dre, which currently sits at 195 million.
Eminem’s net worth
In 2022, Marshall Mathers is worth approximately $230 million, making him one of the wealthiest rappers alive, alongside the likes of Dr Dre, Diddy, Jay Z and Kanye West.
