Premature or not, Eminem has made one helluva of an encore.

The Shady One moved up the drop date of his latest disc, Encore, to Friday, giving it just three days in the sales cycle to compete with a slew of huge releases–greatest hits sets from the chart-topping likes of Shania Twain, Britney Spears and Toby Keith, and anticipated new entries by fellow hip-hopsters Fabolous and Ja Rule.

But when the dust settled, it was no contest. For the week ended Sunday, Eminem’s Encore easily captured to the number one slot in the Billboard 200 by moving 710,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures.

That gives the Motor City rapper four straight number one albums, seven if you include the 8 Mile soundtrack and D12 releases.

Apparently the shortened sales period, Internet leaks and protests by Michael Jackson aficionados (who took issue with Eminem’s Jackson-mocking video for the single “Just Lose It”–BET even shelved the clip) didn’t affect fans’ appetite. This is the second time Em has moved up the date to battle piracy and still crushed the competition: 2002’s The Eminem Show sold a whopping 1.3 million copies in just one day to debut on top of the chart.

With Eminem on top, the trio of greatest hits stocking stuffers lined up from two to four.

Shania Twain’s Greatest Hits opened in second place with 530,000. Though selling more than 40 million career copies, Twain surprisingly topped the charts only once with her last release, 2002’s Up!

Fellow country star Toby Keith broke his string of two consecutive chart toppers as his Greatest Hits 2 sold 435,000 discs at number three. The flag-waving star, whose first hits album dropped in 1998, previously ruled the charts with 2002’s Unleashed and 2003’s Shock’n Y’All.

Finally, Britney Spears had gone four for four at number one, but her Greatest Hits: My Prerogative mustered a mere 255,000 copies at number four. The pop tart opened her career on top with 1999’s …Baby One More Time and continued the trend with 2000’s Oops!. . . I Did It Again, 2001’s self-titled and 2003’s In the Zone.

Fabolous and Ja Rule also made Top 10 bows in a busy sales week. Fabolous’ Real Talk sold 179,000 copies at number six, while Ja Rule’s R.U.L.E. moved 165,000 copies at seven, a new career low.

The surviving Top 10 albums, all former number ones, were: Now That’s What I Call Music! 17 at five, Usher’s Confessions at eight, Nelly’s Suit at nine and George Strait’s 50 Number Ones in the 10 spot. Usher, the bigger winner at last Sunday’s American Music Awards, will likely regain ground on next week’s charts.

New Edition’s first studio album in eight years, One Love, sold a solid 86,000 copies to open at 12. One Love marks the group’s first release on P. Diddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment. Andrea Bocelli ‘s Andrea and Elton John ‘s Peachtree Road followed at 16 and 17, respectively.

The week’s biggest disappointment belonged to the regrouped Destiny’s Child. The R&B trio’s comeback album, Destiny Fulfilled, also moved up due to an Internet leak, sold just 61,000 copies to debut at 19. The trio’s last album, 2001’s Survivor, sold 663,000 first-week copies to top the charts, while Beyoncé’s 2003 solo debut, Dangerously in Love, sold 317,000 to open at number one.

Also breaking into the Top 40 this week were the Bee Gees’ Number Ones at 23, Lil Jon & the East Side Boys’ Crunk Juice at 31, Vanessa Carlton ‘s Harmonium at 33 and Luis Miguel’s Mexico en la Piel at 37.

Other noteworthy debuts included Seal’s Best: 1991-2004, Tony Bennett ‘s Art of Romance at 65, Geroge Jones’ 50 Years of Hits at 118, Randy Travis’ Passing Through at 127 and the soundtrack to the mega-hit videogame Halo 2 at 185.

Meanwhile, Kenny Chesney, the top prize winner at last’s week’s Country Music Association Awards, enjoyed a 10-spot bump as When the Sun Goes Down climbed to 35. Strangely enough, though, CMA hosts Brooks & Dunn skidded on the charts–their Greatest Hits Collection II fell eight spots to 40.

Here’s a recap of the Top 10 albums for the week ended Sunday:

1. Encore, Eminem
2. Greatest Hits, Shania Twain
3. Greatest Hits 2, Toby Keith
4. Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, Britney Spears
5. Now That’s What I Call Music! 17, various
6. Real Talk, Fabolous
7. R.U.L.E., Ja Rule
8. Confessions, Usher
9. Suit, Nelly
10. 50 Number Ones, George Strait

Credit: E! Online