Eminem: Top 50 Songs

Eminem Top 50 Songs

Eminem is a rap singer who was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III on 10/17/1972 in St. Joseph, MO. He grew up splitting time in Missouri and Detroit. With sales of over 220 million records, he is one of the best-selling acts of all time. He was the best-selling act of the 2000s and named Artist of the Decade (2000-2009) by Billboard magazine. He has had ten consecutive albums debut at #1 – the first act to do so. He was also in the rap duo Bad Meets Evil and the rap group D12. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists. Spotify Podcast: Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast The Best of Eminem, 1998-2022 based on this list. Debut: August 23, 2022, at 7pm CST. New episodes based on Dave’s Music Database lists are posted every Tuesday at 7pm CST.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. DMDB Top 1%: 1. Lose Yourself (2002) 2. Love the Way You Lie (with Rihanna, 2010) 3. Stan (with Dido, 2000) 4. Without Me (2002) DMDB Top 2%: 5. The Monster (with Rihanna, 2013) 6. The Real Slim Shady (2000) 7. My Name Is… (1998) 8. Not Afraid (2010) DMDB Top 5%: 9. Smack That (with Akon, 2006) DMDB Top 10%: 10. Mockingbird (2004) 11. Cleanin’ Out My Closet (2002) 12. Rap God (2013) 13. Godzilla (with Juice Wrld, 2020) 14. Like Toy Soldiers (2004) 15. When I’m Gone (2005) 16. Sing for the Moment (20020 DMDB Top 20%: 17. Till I Collapse (with Nate Dogg, 2002) 18. My Band (D12, 2004) 19. Just Lose It (2004) 20. Crack a Bottle (with Dr. Dre & 50 Cent, 2009) 21. Forever (with Drake, Kanye West, & Lil Wayne, 2009) 22. River (with Ed Sheeran, 2017) 23. No Love (with Lil Wayne, 2010) 24. The Way I Am (2000) 25. Forgot About Dre (with Dr. Dre, 1999) 26. Berzerk (2013) 27. I Need a Doctor (with Dr. Dre & Skylar Grey, 2011) 28. Lucky You (with Joyner Lucas, 2018) 29. Killshot (2018) 30. Beautiful (2009) 31. Lighters (Bad Meets Evil with Bruno Mars, 2011) 32. Drop the World (with Lil Wayne, 2010) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 33. Homicide (with Logic, 2019) 34. Shake That (with Nate Dogg, 2005) 35. Venom (2018) 36. We Made You (2009) 37. Mosh (2004) 38. Purple Pills/Purple Hills (D12, 2001) 39. The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady (with Kid Cudi, 2020) 40. Survival (2013) 41. Headlights (with Nate Ruess, 2013) 42. Fall (2018) 43. Ass Like That (2004) 44. Superman (2002) 45. Walk on Water (with Beyoncé, 2017) 46. The Ringer (2018) 47. My Life (with Eminem & Adam Levine, 2012) 48. No Favors (with Big Sean, 2017) 49. Space Bound (2010) 50. Darkness (2020) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Eminem Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 7/30/2022; last updated 8/24/2022.

Eminem charted with “Stan”

Stan Eminem with Dido

Writer(s): Eminem, Dido, Paul Herman (see lyrics here) Released: November 21, 2000 First Charted: October 7, 2000 Peak: 51 US, 31 GR, 31 RR, 36 RB, 11 UK, 27 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.47 UK, 5.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 412.4 video, 710.03 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “There are few songs as blindly fascinating and striking as this” SY “compelling look at the pitfalls of fame” PD and “obsessive fandom.” TB “Rapper Eminem cemented his artistic standing” AB’00 with this “fictional…but frighteningly real” PD story of a deranged fan who sends “a series of unhinged letters.” RS’09 This “creepy hit… encapsulated the dramatic flair that made Eminem so impossible to ignore in 2000.” RS’09 “Even now…[it is] funnier and more shocking than 99 percent of mainstream hip-hop.” MX It is a “raw, beautiful…tragedy without melodrama.” SY It was “instantly fascinating…on first listen [in] how it could take such a cute, pedestrian verse to symbolize an obsessive fan’s descent into madness and self-destruction [and] how Eminem’s rap could sound so realistic, like he’s a friend telling you this story.” SY Malcolm McLaren’s 1984 song “Fans” appears to be the basis of “Stan” in both its structure and story, complete with an opera aria excerpt along with samples from “Thank You,” a song by “hippy-dippy English songbird” TB Dido which became a hit in its own right. SF Em also references his own work when Stan says, “I drank a fifth of vodka, dare me to drive?,” a line from “My Name Is.” Stan also references an untrue rumor that Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” was written by Collins when he witnessed a man stand by and do nothing while someone drowned. The legend says Collins invited the man to one of his concerts and sang it to him. SF Eminem had to deal with charges of being anti-gay because in one of Stan’s letters, he writes about wanting to be with Eminem, who replies that it makes him not want to meet Stan. In response, Eminem enlisted the openly gay Elton John to play piano and sing Dido’s part at the 2001 Grammys. SF Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Dido AB’00 About.com (2009). “Top 100 Pop Songs of the 2000s”” MX Atlanta Metromix (11/24/2009). “Best Songs of the Decade” PD PopDose.com (11/24/2009). “The Best Songs of the Decade” RS’09 Rolling Stone (12/9/2009). “Songs of the Decade SF Songfacts.com SY StylusDecade.com (2009?). “Top Singles” TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 293. WK Wikipedia Related Links: Last updated 3/31/2023.

Eminem hit #1 with The Marshall Mathers LP

The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem

Released: May 23, 2000 Peak: 18 US, 14 RB, 12 UK, 113 CN, 11 AU Sales (in millions): 10.21 US, 2.23 UK, 23.35 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Public Service Announcement 2000 (performed by Jeff Bass) (Bass) [0:25] Kill You (Bradford/ Mathers/ Young) [4:24] Stan (with Dido) (Armstrong/ Herman/ Mathers) [6:43] (10/7/00, 51 US, 31a RB, 1 UK, 1 AU, 2x platinum) Paul (skit by Paul “Bunyan” Rosenbert) (Rosenbert) [0:10] Who Knew (Bradford/ Elizondo/ Mathers/ Young) [3:47] Steve Berman (with Steve Berman) (Mathers) [0:53] The Way I Am (Mathers) [4:44] (8/5/00, 58 US, 22a RB, 8 UK, 34 AU, platinum) The Real Slim Shady (Coster/ Elizondo/ Mathers/ Young) [4:50] (5/6/00, 4 US, 10a RB, 19 MR, 1 UK, 6 CN, 11 AU, 4x platinum) Remember Me? (with RBX & Sticky Fingaz) (Collins/ Doctor Dre/ Eminem/ Jones) [3:38] I’m Back (Bradford/ Doctor Dre/ Mathers) [5:10] Marshall Mathers [5:20] Ken Kaniff (skit) (?) [1:01] Drug Ballad [5:00] (3/17/01, 65a RB) Amityville (with Bizarre) (Bass/ Bass/ Johnson/ Mathers) [4:14] Bitch Please II (with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, & Xzibit) (Bradford/ Broadus/ Elizondo/ Joyner/ Mathers/ Young) [4:48] (7/8/00, 51a RB) Kim [6:17] Under the Influence (with D-12) (Carlisle/ Holton/ Johnson/ Mathers/ Moore/ Porter) [5:22] Criminal [5:19] Songs by Bass/ Bass/ Mathers unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 72:04

Rating: 3.922 out of 5.00 (average of 27 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “It’s hard to know what to make of Eminem.” AMG “His debut, The Slim Shady LP, established [him] as a major force in both hip-hop and broader contemporary culture, but there was still doubt as to whether he would be the latest in a string of short-lived white rap novelties.” TL “Even if you know that half of what he says is sincere and half is a put-on; the trick is realizing that there’s truth in the joke, and vice versa. Many dismissed his considerable skills as a rapper and social satirist because the vulgarity and gross-out humor on The Slim Shady LP were too detailed for some to believe that it was anything but real.” AMG “To Eminem’s credit, he decided to exploit that confusion on his masterful second record, The Marshall Mathers LP.” AMG Songs like “The Real Slim Shady and Bitch Please II vaulted Eminem from a shock rapper with a sense of humor to the voice of a generation.” RS’20 “Rap’s superlative wordsmith blurs the line between autobiography and cartoons in hilarious and vulgar high-velocity rhymes.” UT It is “a fairly brilliant expansion of his debut, turning his spare, menacing hip-hop into a hyper-surreal, wittily disturbing thrill ride. It’s both funnier and darker than his debut, and Eminem’s writing is so sharp and clever that the jokes cut as deeply as the explorations of his ruptured psyche.” AMG “He lashed out at the hypocrisy of American society, exposed the prejudices that fuelled rap music, and held his constituency’s psychosis up to the light.” VU “The Marshall Mathers LP raised the stakes, raised his profile, and damn near raised the dead.” TL “Eminem delivered dizzying, blistering rhymes that laid bare his neuroses, his fury, and his confusion. He jumped from laugh-out-loud funny to chillingly menacing from one line to the next, and went after his critics (The Way I Am) and his fans (Stan, the mesmerizing high-wire act in a stalker’s voice) with equal fever.” TL With the latter, he “created a verb and a meme to describe extreme fandom in our era. “ RS’20 “The production is nearly as evocative as the raps, with liquid basslines, stuttering rhythms, slight sound effects, and spacious soundscapes. There may not be overpowering hooks on every track, but the album works as a whole, always drawing the listener in. But, once you’re in, Eminem doesn’t care if you understand exactly where he’s at, and he doesn’t offer any apologies if you can’t sort the fact from the fiction. As an artist, he’s supposed to create his own world, and with this terrific second effort, he certainly has. It may be a world that is as infuriating as it is intriguing, but it is without question his own, which is far more than most of his peers are able to accomplish at the dawn of a new millennium.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RS’20 Rolling Stone (9/22/2020). “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time” TL Time Magazine’s All-TIME 100 Albums by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light (11/13/06). UT USA Today, Top 40 Albums – the USA Today Way (12/5/2003). VU VH1 Ultimate Albums TV series (2002-03). Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/12/2008; last updated 4/23/2022.