Buoyed by great anticipation, Eminem sold a staggering 608,000 copies of "Relapse" in its first week of release. This album — the rapper's first in nearly five years –  is the fifth in a row from Eminem to make it to No. 1. Such staggering sales were signaled by the earlier success of the first single — "Crack a  Bottle." It shifted more than 418,000 online copies in its first week on sale in February, breaking the download record.

While his last album — "Encore" — sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. it did not win over Grammy voters. Eminem lost all four of his Grammy bids for that disc. Since then, the singer-songwriter has overcome his battle with personal demons.

He returns with the ironically titled "Relapse," which earned rave reviews for its candid self-reflection. This could be the album that finally wins Eminem one of the top prizes at the Grammy Awards.

Over the years, Eminem has won nine Grammys but lost both of his bids for album and record of the year. As a songwriter, he has only contended for song of the year once. And he did not land a best new artist nod when he burst onto the music scene in 2000.

That year he did win the first of two consecutive solo rap performance Grammys for "My Name Is" repeating the following year with "The Real Slim Shady." Eminem and his long-time collaborator Dr. Dre won the rap duo/group Grammy in 2001 for "Forget About Dre" and he won the short-form music video award in 2003 for "Without Me." Eminem won the male solo rap performance Grammy in 2004 for "Lose Yourself" which also won the rap song of the year award.

His first three albums — "The Slim Shady LP," "The Marshall Mathers LP," and "The Eminem Show" — all won the rap album Grammy. The second and third of those contended for the prestigious album of the year prize, with "Mathers" losing to Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" in 2001 and "Show" being bested by "Come Away With Me" by Norah Jones in 2003.