Despite projections earlier in the day suggesting Eminem's new album had already surpassed first-week expectations, it turns out The Marshall Mathers LP 2 did much better than even those preliminary estimates.

Billboard has now officially reported as of late Tuesday night that MMLP2 sold 792,000 copies this past week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the second-highest sales week of the year behind only Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience, which debuted with 968,000 in its first week back in March.

Drake's Nothing Was the Same (658,000) previously held the second-place slot with its first-week sales.

As we reported last week, industry insiders originally projected MMLP2 would sell between 700,000 and 750,000 copies. Eminem's last effort, 2010's Recovery, started with 741,000 copies sold in its first week.