Eminem's Surprise Album Drop About Gun Violence Has Already Hit No. 1 On Global Charts

Eminem just dropped a surprise album that has everyone on Twitter talking. For the second album in a row, there was no previous indication of any new music from the rapper coming out, but this time, it hit the charts immediately.

Eminem’s fans on Twitter were quick to point out that the album, called “Music to Be Murdered By,” is already charting in many countries, with it appearing at No. 1 in more than a few.

At press time, “Music to Be Murdered By” ranked No. 1 on iTunes charts in 56 countries and No. 1 in 17 countries on Apple Music, according to KWORB. Singles from the album, including “Godzilla” featuring Juice WRLD and "Those Kinda Nights" featuring Ed Sheeran, are also currently ranking in the top 20 on the U.S. iTunes chart.

“Music to Be Murdered By” is Eminem’s eleventh album and it’s quite the topical one. The first single, “Darkness,” released the very same day along with a complete music video, advocates for gun control. The song references the Las Vegas shooting in October 2017, in which 58 people were murdered and almost 900 were injured -- making it the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Eminem’s “Darkness” music video reenacts the events of that night in great detail, with an actor resembling the gunman firing off into a crowd with real footage of the tragic event spliced in.

Watch the NSFW video below:

Since Eminem’s “Darkness” single dropped, “#VegasStrong” and other related hashtags started trending on Twitter. The idea of this song, and by extension the album, focuses greatly on spreading the idea of gun control.

Reviews are already pouring in for the album. One of them, posted by Bryan Rolli at Forbes magazine, called out the album by saying that it is derivative of Eminem’s last outing and suffers from the same flaws seen in Marshall Mathers previous works.

A couple of bad reviews aren’t keeping Eminem’s new album down, though. Eminem’s fan base remains strong and enthusiastic about this album and based on its success in the charts so far, that fanbase is a massive one.