Eminem's 'Recovery' Is First Album to Sell 1 Million Downloads

Eminem's seventh album Recovery has become the first record to sell over a million downloads. According to Neilsen Soundscan, Recovery has sold 1,001,000 digital copies, which amounts to about a quarter of the set's overall 3.9 million sales. The album, which includes the smash hits "Love the Way You Lie" and "Not Afraid," was the best-selling record of 2010.

Photos: Eminem and Jay-Z Live in Detroit

Eminem may not hold on to record for best-selling digital album for long. Adele's 21, this year's best-selling record, is very likely to surpass one million in digital sales later this week. 21 has sold exceptionally well as a download, and digital sales account for a larger portion of Adele's overall sales tally.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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