EMINEM RELAPSE THE FIELD

Eminem may have suffered a Relapse, but his new Shady/Aftermath/Interscope album shows none of the ill effects, debuting at #1 on this week’s HITS Album sales chart, with 602k, the year’s largest first-week total.

That beats the year’s previous best figure, Interscope labelmates U2’s No Line on the Horizon, which moved 480k back in March, giving Jimmy Iovine’s Team IGA the two best bows of the year, with Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. coming June 9.

The hip-hop superstar is just one of seven newcomers to the Top 10, with the only holdovers last week’s chart leader, Reprise’s Green Day, dropping a slot to #2, Disney’s Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack at #6 and Interscope’s Lady Gaga at #8.

The debuts include BNA/RCA Nashville’s Kenny Chesney Greatest Hits II album (#3), Comedy Central’s Dane Cook (#4), Def Jam/IDJ’s Method Man & Redman (#5), Universal Motown’s Busta Rhymes (#7), Universal Republic’s Tori Amos (#9) and MySpace/Interscope’s Kate Voegele (#10), giving Iovine’s label group three of this week’s Top 10, while Doug Morris’ UMG sports seven of the Top 10 (including the distributed Disney label).

Other chart bows are registered by Columbia’s Mat Kearney (#13), Reprise’s Eric Clapton & Stevie Winwood live album (#22), Island/IDJ’s Lionel Richie (#24), Sub Pop’s Iron & Wine (#29), Atlantic’s Drama (#30), Hickory’s Ruben Studdard (#34), Dream’s Press Play (#36) and Roadrunner’s CKY (#48). 19/RCA/RMG’s David Cook re-enters at #26 after the former American Idol winner’s appearance on last week’s series finale.

Capitol Nashville’s Keith Urban (#31-23, +52%) and Atlantic’s Jason Mraz (#28, +25%) both see double-digit increases thanks to Idol exposure, while LaFace/JLG’s Pink (#31) is also up 11%.

This week sees the release of new albums from Interscope’s Marilyn Manson, Machete Latin stars Wisin y Yandel and Storefront/RED’s Mandy Moore.