First album to sell one million digital copies (USA)

In July 2011, Recovery by Eminem (USA, b. Marshall Mathers III) became the first album to rack up digital sales of 1 million copies in the USA. The rapper’s seventh studio album – released on 18 June 2010 – held the honour for just one week, however, as Adele’s 21 raced past the 1-million mark less than five months after its North American release on 22 February 2011.

21 took the title with 1.017 million digital copies sold compared with Recovery’s 1.005 million, just a week after Nielsen SoundScan had reported landmark digital sales of 1,001,000 for Recovery. At the time (July 2011), Recovery had sold more than 3.9 million copies overall in the USA. The album features “Not Afraid” and the Rihanna collaboration “Love the Way You Lie” and debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 on 10 July 2010 with first-week sales of 741,000 (255,000 of which were digital). Recovery was the biggest-selling album in the USA (3.415 million) and worldwide (5.7 million) in 2010.