Credit: Alamy

Succeeding in the American music market remains the ultimate feat for a pop star, but the UK is a significant market, too. Topping the British charts represents a great feat, but who, of all the leading rappers, has proven to be the most successful in this regard?

The answer isn’t entirely surprising. Any Brit old enough to remember the turn of the new millennium could probably guess correctly who it is. It’s Eminem, who was everywhere in the early 2000s and has barely dropped off since.

Em’s first UK number one single came in 2000, with ‘The Real Slim Shady.’ It spent a week at the top of the charts, which was a feat it didn’t actually achieve in America. It only reached number four in Em’s own country.

The success of ‘The Real Slim Shady’ in Britain was swiftly followed by ‘Stan,’ which reached number one later that same year. Once again, the song failed to take root in the US in quite the same way, peaking at an unimpressive number 52.

Eminem’s next UK number ones came two years later in 2002, as both ‘Without Me’ and ‘Lose Yourself’ became massive, chart-topping hits. Like their predecessors, they each only spent a week at number one, but they remained in the charts in general for a very long time.

The Michael Jackson-mocking ‘Just Lose It’ became Em’s fifth UK number one hit in 2004, followed a year later by ‘Like Toy Soldiers’ in 2005. That marked six number-one smashes since 2000, which was a remarkable run.

Eminem’s good form continued in 2006, although this next number-one song wasn’t his own. He featured on Akon’s song ‘Smack That,’ which took the UK top spot for a week. This release meant that, in the new millennium, Eminem had released at least one British number-one single in every year except 2001 and 2003.

But his consistency was bound to drop off eventually, and Em soon went through a dry spell. He had to wait until 2013 for his next UK number one, which came in the form of his Rihanna collaboration ‘Monster.’ Another five years passed before he scored another, this time through ‘River,’ a collaboration with Ed Sheeran, and two years after that he got his tenth UK number one with ‘Godzilla,’ a collaboration with Juice Wrld.

Across the two decades between 2000 and 2020, Eminem had scored ten number-one hits, with each of them, oddly enough, spending only one week at the top spot. But since 2005’s ‘Like Toy Soldiers,’ all of his number ones had come as part of a collaboration. He changed that in 2024, with his 11th and most recent UK chart-topper, ‘Houdini.’ Not only was this unquestionably his own track, but it also spent a second week at top spot.