Eminem’s (Slim Shady’s) Marshall Mathers LP 2 has enjoyed huge sales, rocketing it into the top two of the 2013 first-week best sellers list, but Justin Timberlake remains ahead of him with his own comeback record: The 20/20 Experience.

EminemEminem's 8th album has performed well

You could be sitting on a beanchair, flicking through Smash Hits under the light of a lava lamp with this news entering your conciseness, but worry not: it’s 2013, inequality is even more pronounced, world debt is higher, and, yes, JT and Slim are still selling records.

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 – Eminem’s 8th album – managed to shift 792,000 copies, which is more than industry experts predicted. They thought it would sell somewhere between 700/750,000, which makes us think we should have written experts in inverted commas. Only joking ‘experts’, you’re alright.

Eminem Admits He Was Too "Lazy" To Finish 'Marshall Mathers LP 2'

The album fared well with the critics, accumulating a 75 score on Metacritic. “The jokes, in places offensive, are relentless and ribald. There is no apology, though, no concession; just a considered, virtuoso application of talent,” said The Guardian’s Paul MacInnes.

20/20, on the other hand, held on to its 2013 top spot with 968,000 copies sold in its first week. That was back in March, and there’s a huge gap between the top 2 and third spot, with Drake flogging 658,000 of Nothing Was The Same.

Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail shifted 528,000 copies, despite an innovative – yet doomed- marketing ploy that involved Samsung phones and loads of people getting annoyed with an app. Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party sold 528,000.

As we approach the end of the year, there aren’t many releases that we expect to oust anyone on that list, apart from Lady GaGa’s ARTPOP, which should nestle somewhere in the top 3 if everything goes to plan.

Justin TimberlakeBut Justin Timberlake is still number 1