Eminem has been announced as the latest artist to receive a BRIT Billion Award after achieving a landmark seven billion UK streams on his songs.
The 51-year-old rapper’s newly earned award celebrates his incredible feat amount of streams, which was calculated by the Official Charts Company.
Dubbed as one of the most iconic voices in rap music, the American star has made history, following the likes of Green Day, the Rolling Stones and Queen.
Eminem holds a UK chart record for the most consecutive Number 1s on the Official Albums Chart with 10 studio albums topping the Official Albums Chart in a row.
The award was given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which is the representative voice for the UK’s world-leading record labels and music companies.
Last month, the hitmaker scored his 11th UK Number 1 single with Houdini, marking his first fully solo Number 1 since Toy Soldiers 19 years earlier in 2002.
His 12th studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) dropped on July 12 and shot to the top of the charts, marking his 11th No.1 Album in the UK.
With a staggering career total of seven billion UK streams, over 60 of Eminem’s hits have been BRIT Certified, including 15 certified Multi-Platinum.
With a stream of timeless anthems, his top three most streamed hits – Without Me, Lose Yourself’ and Love The Way You Lie featuring Rihanna – have accumulated over 770 million UK streams alone.
Officially launched in 2023, 39 artists have now been recognised with a BRIT Billion award for achieving over one billion UK career streams.
The star-studded list includes global icons such as Green Day, The Rolling Stones, Queen, ABBA, and Whitney Houston, as well as pioneering rap and hip-hop artists including AJ Tracey and Headie One.
Chart-dominating pop artists and singer-songwriters have also made the cut, with the likes of Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, Camila Cabello, Lewis Capaldi, and BRIT Award record-breaker RAYE all having received the Award.
The award comes after Eminem’s highly-anticipated The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) has already proven a hit with fans who are sleuthing to find out what all of the lyrics mean.
And just before the 19 tracks dropped earlier this month, Eminem added fuel to the fire by cryptically telling his followers how they should listen to the new album.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), he warned: ‘Public service announcement: the ‘death of slim shady’ is a conceptual album, therefore, if you listen to songs out of order they might not make sense. Enjoy.’
However, some hardcore fans of the rapper believe that the proper way to listen to The Death of Slim Shady and uncover its message is to listen to it in reverse.
They have taken to social media to theorise that the album is not actually about Slim Shady’s death, but instead about his revival and coming back to life.
Fans of the rap icon are hoping that this could mean more songs are coming to prove that Slim Shady is still kicking.
This is a complete twist from the initial theories that the rapper’s 12th studio album could have also been his last.
