When tracks from Eminem's Relapse LP began leaking back in December, there was certainly some early cause for concern. After all, "Number One" sounded a lot like number two to us, and the song and video for "We Made You" had us wondering whether Em had let his Us Weekly subscription expire back in 2005. Well, now that we've spent a few weeks with the LP as a whole, we definitely think that it's a return to form for Shady after the middling disappointment that was Encore. And it turns out America concurs, as Relapse became the fastest-selling record of 2009 when it moved some 606,000 units last week.

Impressively, Eminem's first-week sales figures are the highest since AC/DC teamed up with Wal-Mart back in October to sell 784,000 copies of Black Ice, and were only down about 15 percent from what he was able to do in 2004 when Encore debuted. They also helped propel him to the No. 10 position on the running list of artists who have sold the most records since the advent of Soundscan in 1991; Em has now sold 33,951,000 records over the course of his ten-plus–year career, which jumps him up above other huge sellers like U2 and Shania Twain (um, and Kenny G).

Meanwhile, in a spot of semi-depressing music-industry news, over 177,000 people downloaded the version of "Don't Stop Believing" from Glee last week. We're okay with that, just as long as no other television shows or movies try to pull the same stunt for the next ten years.

Week Ending May 24, 2009: The Kris/Adam Duel Moves To The Charts [Chart Watch/Yahoo]