Kanye West's long-awaited 'Jesus Is King' debuts at No. 1, tying Eminem's record

In the end, they propelled the rapper's latest album, released Oct. 25, to debut at No. 1.  

The gospel-inspired album is West's ninth in a row to open at the top of the Billboard 200, putting him in a tie with Eminem for the most consecutive No. 1s, Billboard says.

The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. On the new chart, set to be released Tuesday, "Jesus Is King" earned 264,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Oct. 31, according to Nielsen Music. Of that, 109,000 were in album sales; the rest were largely from streaming activity.
 

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"Jesus Is King" features West rapping about God and his newfound faith.

The rapper discussed his musical and personal turn to Christianity, as well as the inspiration behind the new album in an interview with DJ Zane Lowe on Apple Music the day before the album was released.

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"Now that I’m in service to Christ, my job is to spread the gospel, to let people know what Jesus has done for me," West told Lowe during a nearly two-hour conversation.

They touched on many topics, including what went into making West's new album, which debuted along with an IMAX film of the same title.

Contributing: Charles Trepany, USA TODAY

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kanye West's 'Jesus Is King' debuts at No. 1, tying Eminem's record