Meet the Newest Member of YouTube’s Billion Views Club: Eminem

Muhammad Saleem is a social media consultant. Follow him on Twitter for more social media commentary.

Eminem is quickly becoming a digital force to be reckoned with. On Presidents Day, the rapper became only the third artist to reach 1 billion views on YouTube.

Last October, when Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber were racing to 1 billion views on YouTube (which Lady Gaga won by a margin of two weeks), third-place competitor Michael Jackson was hovering around 600 million views. Since then, the needle hasn’t moved much for the King of Pop, who now tallies more than 630 million views. Eminem sneaked in and beat Michael Jackson as well as other formidable contenders such as Rihanna, Shakira and Britney Spears to 1 billion views.

This accomplishment shouldn’t come as a surprise to industry watchers. Eminem, along with Nicki Minaj and Rihanna, topped Billboard’s Social 50 in 2010, a ranking of the most active artists on social media platforms. This week, he ranks No. 5. Furthermore, Eminem has more than 3 million Twitter followers and almost 29 million Facebook Fans, and was recently featured in multiple, well-received Super Bowl commercials.

2011 is already off to a good start, but 2010 was a banner year for Eminem both emotionally (he kicked his drug habit) and musically. Marking his return from a string of albums that were commercially successful but largely considered critical flubs, his latest album, Recovery, landed him yet another No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 741,000 copies in its first week in the U.S. and more than 6 million copies worldwide to date. The album earned 10 Grammy nominations and two Grammy awards.

To celebrate this milestone, let’s take a look at some of the hottest music videos from the Detroit rapper. These three singles from Recovery are not only Eminem’s most viewed, but they also share a thematic element. “Love The Way You Lie” tells the tale of domestic abuse, “Not Afraid” deals with suicidal thoughts and “No Love” discusses bullying in schools (a point that became more topical with the recent incidents of gay-bullying).

Note: Video views are based on official counts and do not include numbers from video sites other than YouTube, or from channels other than the official Eminem YouTube/Vevo channel.

View As Slideshow » 1. Love The Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna)

Topping the list is the second single off Recovery. Produced by Alex da Kid with a catchy chorus written by Skylar Grey (sung by Rihanna), the song has been a blockbuster hit. Not only did it hold the number one position on the Hot 100 charts for 7 weeks in a row, the song has sold over 9 million copies worldwide.

Official View Count: 292,198,077 views (174K Likes)

While the first single off Recovery didn't perform as well, at over 200 million views and nearly 3.5 million downloads in the U.S. alone, it was a great way to start building the hype around his latest album. The single, which makes the necessary apologies for letting the fans down in the past, holds the distinction of being only the second hip hop single ever to debut at number one, after Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You."

Official View Count: 203,290,494 views (10K Likes)

Recorded and filmed before Lil Wayne headed off to serve his prison sentence, the third single from Recovery is the third time the two rappers have collaborated and starred in a music video together. While not commercially as successful as the first two singles, "No Love" gained critical support as its release coincided with a string of bullying-related teen suicides. The message offered hope to struggling youth.

Official View Count 46,712,695 views (147K Likes)

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