Another day, another fight for #1 seems to be the story of 2024. Last week Sabrina Carpenter and Travis Scott fought it out for the #1 debut, with Carpenter coming out ahead by around a meager 1k units.
The two albums in question are Short N’ Sweet by Carpenter and Days Before Rodeo by Scott. Short N’ Sweet is Carpenter’s sixth studio album, which, regardless of where it debuted, will go down as Carpenter’s biggest record to date. Both pre-release singles “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Pease” hit #1 on the charts, and the third single “Taste” debuted at #2. Scott’s record Days Before Rodeo is not a new full album but rather the first streaming release of his second mixtape, which, as the name implies, serves as a prequel to Rodeo, his first album. In honor of the mixtape’s tenth anniversary, Scott released the album on streaming with additional unreleased material from that era of his career.
Unlike some of the chart battles between Taylor Swift and the likes of Charli XCX, or Billie Eilish, Carpenter has acknowledged the rivalry she felt between Short N’ Sweet and Days Before Rodeo, posting on X, “This one’s for Nicki.” This is a pretty clear allusion to Nicki Minaj’s battle with Scott over a number-one album in 2018 when Minaj’s Queen lost out to Scott’s Astroworld. Minaj claimed Scott was unfairly using merchandise sales and his then-wife, Kyle Jenner to boost his numbersÂ
As Short N’ Sweet was crowned #1, fans took to X to voice their opinions on the final results. While Scott has yet to comment on Carpenter’s #1, the comments under her celebratory post were a mixed-bag.
how much you pay billboard
— isaiahâś° (@tlop444) September 3, 2024
The online buzz came to a head on September 9, when Vulture reported that Scott’s label, Cactus Jack Records, sent a letter to Billboard and Luminate, the analytics platform that calculates data for Billboard, ahead of the chart’s publication that week. The letter alleged that Billboard had excluded a portion of sales that could have pushed Scott to the #1 spot. A spokesperson for Luminate asserted that the company is “confident that our numbers are correct in accordance with our processes and methodology.”
Though Carpenter and Scott haven’t chimed in on the drama, this puts yet another pinpoint in the long story of 2024 chart battles as this year continues to be one of the most stacked in recent memory.
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