HITS 8/30: Sabrina Carpenter 362k, Travis Scott 361k

[jdanton2]

Aug 30, 2024 17:01:36 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=342457&title=NO-CHART-TODAY%253A-POUR-US-A-DOUBLE.

Friday, August 30, 2024

NO CHART TODAY: POUR US A DOUBLE.

We won’t be publishing the HITS Top 50 chart today, as the question of who will land at #1 has not yet been settled. Sabrina Carpenter is ahead at present, but all parties are fighting the good fight and we have a long weekend’s worth of daydrinking, barbecuing and binge-watching to contemplate. We’ll have a final chart for you as soon as we’re able. Thank you, and down the hatch.

not really surprised there is a delay.hopefully Sabrina comes out ahead.

[Ling-Ling]

HITS playing it up for the drama, lol. Watch it not even be close.

[imbuemyblue]

I don't like variants, but it honestly bothers me less seeing more big artists adopt it. It at least feels like a more even playing field.

Question for the culture: do we find this to be more or less offensive than bundles? Explain your answer.

[jenglisbe]

Aug 30, 2024 17:28:37 GMT -5 imbuemyblue said:

I don't like variants, but it honestly bothers me less seeing more big artists adopt it. It at least feels like a more even playing field.

Question for the culture: do we find this to be more or less offensive than bundles? Explain your answer.

It depends on the context of the question for me. I think ticket bundles being included for the charts was iffy at best because the primary purchase seemed to be a concert ticket, and an album happened to come with it. Merchandise bundles are a bit more confusing in terms of determining the primary consumer intent; was the intent the merch, the album, or both? With these variants, at least we know the intent is buying the actual music, so to that end it's less offensive to me in terms of counting toward the charts.

The chart aspect is different to me than being offensive on some moral level. I think variants are clearly artists/teams taking advantage of the psychological aspects of standom. "Making" fans re-buy albums they already own to get a song that could very easily be posted for individual download and/or streaming is cheap and shamless IMO.

[fridayteenage]

Individual downloads for webstores are not countable
And barely anyone uses iTunes etc anymore, I remember trying last year and it was a big hassle

[seak05]

I’m old enough to remember when Garth would routinely add a new album to a box set in order to 10ct and have it sell a million units in a week. Never mind all the bundles we got a few years ago. Billboard makes new rules, artists and labels figure out new ways to drive up sales. Every artist out there (and certainly the labels) know the game. They’re also all taking advantage of it to the greatest extent possible. The more popular an artist is, the greater number of variants they’ll be able to sell. No artist is any more or less responsible or a greater or lesser offender. There is also no moral high ground bc at the end of the day no one is being forced to buy the product.

Is it all a little bit silly? Yes. Does it occasionally make for fun drama? Yes. Does it mean we occasionally get interesting content we might not otherwise get (see Brat remixes, live recordings etc)? Yes. But most of the variants are also digital albums which make up an incredibly small number of the overall sales percentage. It’s just not really worth getting this heated about.

[wavey.]

Aug 30, 2024 17:28:37 GMT -5 imbuemyblue said:

I don't like variants, but it honestly bothers me less seeing more big artists adopt it. It at least feels like a more even playing field.

Question for the culture: do we find this to be more or less offensive than bundles? Explain your answer.

Variants are the new bundles basically. It...keeps the said artists' era stable?(If needed)

[theycallmedualian]

People here complaining about “variants” is giving old man yelling at the sky energy.

Yes they’re a thing now. Yes every major artist and/or label is doing it. What’s the issue?

[Hefty Hanna]

I’m sooo over the variant talk.

Nobody is forcing a gun to anybody’s head to buy them. If enough variants are being sold to get the album to #1 then it’s fairly the #1 album.

Same old tactics, new strategy. In 10 years from now there will be a new tactic. It’s just how the industry works.

[theycallmedualian]

Aug 30, 2024 21:18:52 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

I’m sooo over the variant talk.

Nobody is forcing a gun to anybody’s head to buy them. If enough variants are being sold to get the album to #1 then it’s fairly the #1 album.

Same old tactics, new strategy. In 10 years from now there will be a new tactic. It’s just how the industry works.

And what those folks don’t realize is that billboard has already done TOO MUCH to limit sales from labels and artists.

The Korean acts over at Asia encourages and employs as much variants and bundling as possible - including bundling albums with tour tickets. The result is, the top 3 bestselling album last year >internationally<- all came out of Korea, even Though no one outside of Korea and China has heard 1 word of them

Without variants, it is guaranteed there will never be another US/UK album going #1 internationally again, ESPECIALLY if Taylor swift takes a hiatus. You guys should be happy over the variants.

[Mayman]

Aug 30, 2024 21:06:36 GMT -5 theycallmedualian said:

People here complaining about “variants” is giving old man yelling at the sky energy.

Yes they’re a thing now. Yes every major artist and/or label is doing it. What’s the issue?

No response to anything from the first page?

[KeepDeanWeird]

Unless you purchased a vinyl copy, it’s easy to choose which variant *bonus* tracks to purchase if you want.

Now, some artists price the variant versions the same or add a $1 or $2 for versions with 4 or 5 tracks, which is a slap to those who pre-ordered or bought early.

Alienating those core fans isn’t smart, but I suspect anyone buying digital or physical copies won’t care that much.

Swifties are a good example. For TS13, it’s safe for them to assume bonus material will arrive at 1am based on 3am Midnights and 2am TTPD. If they choose to pre-order, they can’t complain.

Put out as many variants as possible. There’s a reason why it’s call the music *business*.

[avamaxstan]

Aug 30, 2024 17:28:37 GMT -5 imbuemyblue said:

I don't like variants, but it honestly bothers me less seeing more big artists adopt it. It at least feels like a more even playing field.

Question for the culture: do we find this to be more or less offensive than bundles? Explain your answer.

The bundles era was wild… tour tickets, merch, even jockstraps all being counted as album sales. The variants are way better, it’s the actual music product being purchased.

[Enigma.]

Aug 30, 2024 23:11:03 GMT -5 KeepDeanWeird said:

Swifties are a good example. For TS13, it’s safe for them to assume bonus material will arrive at 1am based on 3am Midnights and 2am TTPD. If they choose to pre-order, they can’t complain.

I think the difference is - Taylor doesn't need those sales to reach number one. She is doing it all just to maximize sales and income. Sabrina and Travis are competing.

[Music Fan]

Aug 30, 2024 15:28:05 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

Aug 30, 2024 13:13:40 GMT -5 Music Fan said:

If an artist wants to try to get a surefire #1 album, go ahead and put 20+ songs on your album and release the 5 different versions and vinyls at the beginning of the week.

Yeah I don't think it's going to work like that for the majority of artists. I would argue the only artists who will directly benefit in any big/noteable way (in terms of #1 peak or longevity) will be artists who already have a large following and who'd likely be able (or close to being able) to secure the pole position without the variants. Like, if Radical Optimism had 30 songs and 20 variants do we suddenly think it would have debuted at #1 with 200,000 copies? No. lol It really is only going to help artists relative to their "natural" performance. So while a boost is likely across the board, it isn't going to culminate in some massive difference. Look at Taylor. She was already close to #1 when variants helped her secure 3 of her 15 weeks at the top and even with her commercial prowess her average variant drop padded her total by only around 20k copies per implementation (aside from maybe one or two instances off memory), which really is a drop in the bucket of her near 6 million domestic total.

This whole notion of "now anyone can get a #1 just make a double album and put 50 variants out" is a bit ridiculous, as you have to have the initial buying interest there to begin with. That's why I think some are particularly pissed when Taylor utilizes the variants in the way she does, because she is one of the few artists who can do so more successfully and to her advantage.

On a side note: And speaking of Taylor, yes other artists aside from her have received criticism on this forum for using variants, as highlighted in a post above, but I think the degree of criticism and certainly the level of vitriol toward Taylor using them comparatively has always been much, MUCH worse on Pulse and that's just the truth (for whatever reasons there might be: she's most popular, she utilizes them the most etc). People were articulating that she is a horrible human being because she releases variants, whereas with artists like Travis and Sabrina they're just like "they shouldn't do that" or with artists like Dua or Kelly Clarkson there's no criticism at all and that's what musiclife was likely referring to initially when they insinuated the criticism felt a bit uneven.

Right, but it's the same thing as Sabrina and Travis releasing all their multiple versions throughout the week, into the last day of the tracking period, solely to bump their sales. Only artists with larger followings will benefit (which is also why we see them do it the most). However, my point with having everything up front at the beginning of the week is that consumers aren't duped into "is there / isn't there more." The consumer has all the variations of an album out and they can then decide which they want to purchase. This gamesmanship, quite frankly, only hurts consumers and I think its a disgusting show of capitalism.

I know people hate Morgan Wallen on this board, but as a huge fan, I appreciate that his route to #1 (not that he needs it first week) is releasing a 30 song album and letting that be. Sure, not all 30 songs are the most quality songs (there's something to be said about albums being curated to a list of 12 great songs, and even then, sometimes we get duds), but I know as a fan that those are all the songs he's likely going to release for that album. I'm not spending $100+ on different variations to get every single song an artist is releasing for a project.

Now, my main issue with Taylor is really the fact that she does not need it. She's going to be #1 regardless (at least at this stage of her humongous career) because there's no one bigger than her. Sabrina and Travis are competing sure -- but we all know that without the variants and last minute releases, this #1 would've been Sabrina's given the huge gap in initial estimates. There's now a, in my eyes, fabricated race for #1.

[fridayteenage]

Aug 31, 2024 0:41:35 GMT -5 avamaxstan said:

Aug 30, 2024 17:28:37 GMT -5 imbuemyblue said:

I don't like variants, but it honestly bothers me less seeing more big artists adopt it. It at least feels like a more even playing field.

Question for the culture: do we find this to be more or less offensive than bundles? Explain your answer.

The bundles era was wild… tour tickets, merch, even jockstraps all being counted as album sales. The variants are way better, it’s the actual music product being purchased.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

If fans are okay being ripped off for the sake of a better chart placement (and for real, they are, because most buy multiples for that reason anyway), then it’s okay - even if they choose to avoud admitting that they’re being taken advantage of. Personally, it’s annoying to have songs added to an album after its release but I also make a choice to assume they weren’t that important to begin with.

I’d be hesitant to support a Billboard decision blocking these multiple deluxe albums from counting toward the chart because I’m of the opinion that everything should count (including bundles - hey, if free streams count, why not free physical albums). But if Billboard decided to not count tracks added after an initial release toward its album’s total, I’d support that. So for example, all the Anthology tracks from TTPD released at 3am wouldn’t count toward that album because they weren’t part of the initial track list.

[Ling-Ling]

My issues with these bonus track variants are all unrelated to charts. I think they rip off fans. Exploit standom. I find them artistically bankrupt and commercially cynical. And I think if labels keep taking it to extremes, it will lead to a faster downturn for the physical market. The music industry has always been shortsighted to their own detriment, nothing new to see here. But eh, a sale is a sale. So they should count.

In terms of bundles, I was always skeptical about the concert ones. I can't tell you how many concert tickets I bought and never saw anything about the album being included. They really buried it in there. And sometimes I'd buy one ticket and get multiple albums. Not sure if all those were counting.

[jdanton2]

i wonder if we will get the Billboard numbers later tomorrow . if not we might have to wait till Tuesday because of the Monday holiday.

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard is always on Sunday unless some numbers are questionable.

Preliminary numbers are available to labels on Friday.

[stormlover74]

Hmm this sounds like he will take #1

[Coco Yu'Kneek- Saint]

If you dumb enough to run after your fav and buy 15 versions of the same album with shit tacked on I don't feel sorry for you . Its your choice! I don't even do that for my fav I bought her albums and if some songs came after I just listen to them without buying re-realse ect. You can call it 1989, 1889 ,1589,1789,1089 ,9988 or whatever the fuck new packaging and pictures you put on you're not ever never getting me to be a SUCKER. By no means an I saying Taylor Switched would be any less successful with no variants so I don't care I just hate other artists in the past tactics like adding tour sales and merchandise to boost their albums. Atleast Taylor Sockets can sell records without the gimmicks

Anyways Sabrina congrats your album fire, you're gorgeous, talented and deserve all the credit and success!! Also to congrats to Auto tune Scott

[Verisimilitude]

Travis is a genuine menace.

[musiclife]

Aug 31, 2024 15:14:40 GMT -5 stormlover74 said:

Hmm this sounds like he will take #1

Nah wasn't his streaming numbers trash?

[Coco Yu'Kneek- Saint]

[fridayteenage]

since 2019, new albums getting blocked despite a huge streaming advantage:
Drake 191k advantage vs. Kenny Chesney
Future/Uzi 94k advantage vs. ACDC
Summer Walker 116k advantage vs. SuperM

[Mayman]

If Travis does 300-400k with mostly digital downloads and no CDs and vinyls with hardly any streams, we might need to start having some serious conversations about his next album hitting 1 million. I honestly think he can do it.

[avamaxstan]

I’m disgusted.

[seak05]

Aug 31, 2024 17:58:14 GMT -5 Mayman said:

If Travis does 300-400k with mostly digital downloads and no CDs and vinyls with hardly any streams, we might need to start having some serious conversations about his next album hitting 1 million. I honestly think he can do it.

Keep in mind streaming directly cannibalizes digital downloads. If he made it available via streaming he's probably doing 25% of the digital sales (unless he has exclusive digital variants that aren't on streaming). But yeah he's super popular and sells very well

Anyways did not have Sabrina outselling Billie and everyone else this year (except Taylor and maybe Travis) 

[Coco Yu'Kneek- Saint]

Aug 30, 2024 21:06:36 GMT -5 theycallmedualian said:

People here complaining about “variants” is giving old man yelling at the sky energy.

Yes they’re a thing now. Yes every major artist and/or label is doing it. What’s the issue?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_Ojo04vU-6