4 minutes ago, sxmescudi said:

@Taylena do you know the answer?

Sure! From a poster above

 

 

 

13 minutes ago, Digitalism said:

Just do a separate bundles chart and watch this dissapear in days

a merchandise chart would be amazing. let travis scott run that **** over there

Just now, SoSickOfThatSOL said:

Sure! From a poster above

 

 

 

These are vinyls only. Someone would expect a stan to know the answer. Luckily ChatGPT does know the answer and it's 19. What is the justification for releasing 19 physical versions of an album? Is it not creating overconsumption?

4 minutes ago, fever2288 said:

This also reminded me when Ms Victim played dumb blonde how the charts work, and accused Ed Sheeran as charts obsessed one 

travis just did the SAME thing. when asked about charts he said he didnt care!!!

 

5 minutes ago, SoSickOfThatSOL said:

Sure! From a poster above

 

 

 

Having multiple vinyl variants of different disc colours is not the same as having multiple vinyl variants with different covers and tracklists

6 hours ago, Seeyuh said:

because when u look back at 2024 for best first week selling hip hop album.

its gonna say travis scott over kendrick lamar (who owned the year in hip hop)

its not accurate

But who tf gives a sh*t about that silly metric? Nobody cares about first week sales, its the WoC what matters and the total units. 

10 minutes ago, sxmescudi said:

@Taylena do you know the answer?

TTPD was released in 19 physical variants for purchase, including 9 CDs, 6 vinyls, and 4 cassettes, which is still fewer than just the vinyl variants offered by many other artists, as shown in that list above. All these other people you stan would need to sell 100 variants to even come close to Taylor's sales, and that might still fall short.

8 minutes ago, sxmescudi said:

These are vinyls only. Someone would expect a stan to know the answer. Luckily ChatGPT does know the answer and it's 19. What is the justification for releasing 19 physical versions of an album? Is it not creating overconsumption?

Incorrect. God, people do not know how to properly use AI. Let me quote you the correct answer! 
 

Spoiler

You're absolutely right — thanks for pointing that out.

 

To clarify:

 

• Physical formats (like CD, vinyl, cassette) can have multiple versions, but not all of them are true variants in the collector sense.
• In music collecting, a variant typically means a release with unique musical content (like bonus tracks), artwork, or packaging — not just a different format.

 

 

For The Tortured Poets Department, there are:

 

 

 

 

✅

4 true physical variants (with unique bonus tracks):

 

 

Each includes one exclusive bonus track, available in various physical formats:

 

1. The Manuscript
2. The Bolter
3. The Albatross
4. The Black Dog

 

 

These variants are available on:

 

• CD
• Vinyl (in multiple colors)
• Cassette

 

 

 

 

Everything else — different vinyl colors, signed versions, etc. — are format or packaging variations, not content variants.

 

So:

🔹 4 physical variants (based on exclusive tracks)

🔹 Many versions (based on format, color, packaging)

 

Let me know if you'd like a visual chart or full list of those!

Variants and availability on different formats is not the same.

 

And about the overconsumption, I don't really know. But you should ask Taylor's team! Since in most weeks she released digital variants, she would still be #1 without em.

3 minutes ago, tjspy said:

But who tf gives a sh*t about that silly metric? Nobody cares about first week sales, its the WoC what matters and the total units. 

pop fans care about different things then. rap fans are first week focused

10 minutes ago, OrgVisual said:

Having multiple vinyl variants of different disc colours is not the same as having multiple vinyl variants with different covers and tracklists

They're still variants until someone defines a different term. Yeah sure, but at the end… which is worse for the consumer? 
 

2 hours ago, Seeyuh said:

make your case, lets see the stream/pure sales ratio

if you want someone with bad stream/pure sales ratio then many kpop groups with their multiple variants and randomized items

 

ENHYPEN's DESIRE: UNLEASH arrives with 100,000 equivalent album units earned
• album sales comprise 95,000, 
• SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 7.29 million on-demand official streams of the set's songs) 
• TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
DESIRE: UNLEASH was available in its first week across 19 CD editions, all with the same audio but with packaging variations. Some editions were signed, and all contained collectible paper ephemera, some randomized.
 

ATEEZ's GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3 debuts with 105,000 equivalent album units earned:
• album sales comprise 101,500
• SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 4.07 million on-demand official streams of the set's five songs)
• TEA units comprise 500 units
GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3 was available in its first week across 12 CD editions, all with the same audio but with packaging variations. Some editions were signed, and all contained collectible paper ephemera, some randomized.

ATEEZ's GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2 earned 184,000 equivalent album units: 
• album sales comprise 179,000, 
• SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 6.43 million on-demand official streams of the set's songs) 
• TEA units comprise a negligible sum. 
The album's first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 29 physical format variants (23 CDs and six vinyl editions; all containing collectible branded paper ephemera, some randomized) and three digital download variants (a standard edition and two versions containing voice notes from the acts as bonus tracks).

TWICE's YOU-th earned 95,000 units:
• album sales comprise 90,000, 
• SEA units comprise 4,500 (equaling 6.33 million official on-demand streams of the set's six songs)
• TEA units comprise 500. 
Sales of With YOU-th were bolstered by its availability across 14 CD variants (including exclusives for Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and the act's webstore, all with branded paper merchandise inside the packages as well as some randomized elements) and three vinyl variants (all picture discs, including one Target-exclusive version).

Stray Kids' ATE earned 231,000 first-week units: 
• album sales comprise 217,000
• SEA units comprise 13,000 (equaling 19.05 million on-demand streams of the set's songs) 
• TEA units comprise 1,000. 
ATE's sales were bolstered by its availability across 11 different CD variants, all containing collectible items like photocards, stickers and posters (some of which was randomized), including signed editions, as well as variants exclusive to Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.

Stray Kids' HOP earned 187,000 first-week equivalent album units:
• album sales comprise 176,000,
• SEA units comprise 10,000 (equaling 14.83 million on-demand official streams of the sets songs) 
• TEA units comprise 1,000 
HOP's album sales were bolstered by its availability across seven different CD variants, all containing collectible items such as photocards, posters, stickers and trading cards (including some randomized items), with variants exclusive to Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart and the act's official webstore. Of the album's 176,000 album sales, CD sales comprise 171,000, while digital download albums comprise 5,000.

36 minutes ago, OrgVisual said:

Having multiple vinyl variants of different disc colours is not the same as having multiple vinyl variants with different covers and tracklists

But most of the albums here also have "vinyl exclusive tracks", and BRAT has like 3 different track list permutations on vinyl. Everyone's pulling the same tricks as Taylor, she shouldn't be singled out just because she does it successfully.

Days Before Rodeo debut week stats:

Quote

The sales avalanche was aided by eight different editions of the Days Before Rodeo digital album, six of which were exclusively sold through Scott's official webstore. Besides the standard 12-song version, the seven variants contained assorted bonus tracks, such as previously unreleased and teased studio cuts and chopped and screwed remixes of the album's songs. All variants sold via Scott's webstore were priced at $4.99, while versions available in the iTunes Store were also available for $4.99 at the end of the tracking week.

If you look at the Billboard 200 rule change earlier this week it seems to almost have been tailor-made for this:

• Billboard limited the number of digital exclusive versions per album to 4: DBR has 6
• Digital exclusives can no longer be released midweek: DBR digital exclusives were released midweek
• Minimum prices for albums including a $7.99 floor for digital albums: $4.99 < $7.99

So Billboard did "do something" about the SHYNE rapper, but he still sold 200k last week so! This is the thing about this type of discussion, if there's a demand (and I hope nobody is serious arguing that Travis and Taylor don't have the demand) those sales will be made one way or another  likewise if there isn't the demand you can have 20 vinyl variants and still not break 50k.

 

Spoiler

All this for a #2 debut 

 

Edited July 20, 20251 yr by Peak Now

 

 

this thing is dying down.   Can someone get more gasoline please ?

 

 

50 minutes ago, Taylena said:

TTPD was released in 19 physical variants for purchase, including 9 CDs, 6 vinyls, and 4 cassettes, which is still fewer than just the vinyl variants offered by many other artists, as shown in that list above. All these other people you stan would need to sell 100 variants to even come close to Taylor's sales, and that might still fall short.

 

47 minutes ago, SoSickOfThatSOL said:

Incorrect. God, people do not know how to properly use AI. Let me quote you the correct answer! 
 

  Reveal hidden contents

You're absolutely right — thanks for pointing that out.

 

To clarify:

 

• Physical formats (like CD, vinyl, cassette) can have multiple versions, but not all of them are true variants in the collector sense.
• In music collecting, a variant typically means a release with unique musical content (like bonus tracks), artwork, or packaging — not just a different format.

 

 

For The Tortured Poets Department, there are:

 

 

 

 

✅

4 true physical variants (with unique bonus tracks):

 

 

Each includes one exclusive bonus track, available in various physical formats:

 

1. The Manuscript
2. The Bolter
3. The Albatross
4. The Black Dog

 

 

These variants are available on:

 

• CD
• Vinyl (in multiple colors)
• Cassette

 

 

 

 

Everything else — different vinyl colors, signed versions, etc. — are format or packaging variations, not content variants.

 

So:

🔹 4 physical variants (based on exclusive tracks)

🔹 Many versions (based on format, color, packaging)

 

Let me know if you'd like a visual chart or full list of those!

Variants and availability on different formats is not the same.

 

And about the overconsumption, I don't really know. But you should ask Taylor's team! Since in most weeks she released digital variants, she would still be #1 without em.

It's funny how Swifties love to mention how Taylor is THE music industry and how impactful she is (the Spotify thing a few years ago is a good example) that you would expect her to actually show an example of not creating overconsumption when she absolutely does not need to have that many options. Even with one variant per physical format she would still outsell everybody else.

 

But I get that you would rather blindly agree with everything she does and scream "but OTHER artists do it too!!!!" even when it's not sustainable.

1 hour ago, SoSickOfThatSOL said:

They're still variants until someone defines a different term. Yeah sure, but at the end… which is worse for the consumer? 
 

The point is no one forced you to buy 22 different versions of Brat because it has different disc colour. It's like you are buying a t-shirt and they are available in 10 colours, it's giving you choice on which you like best.

 

Taylor's vinyls, however, have these "exclusive tracks" which encouraged fans to buy more than 1 variant to have the "full complete" experience

55 minutes ago, OrgVisual said:

The point is no one forced you to buy 22 different versions of Brat because it has different disc colour. It's like you are buying a t-shirt and they are available in 10 colours, it's giving you choice on which you like best.

 

Taylor's vinyls, however, have these "exclusive tracks" which encouraged fans to buy more than 1 variant to have the "full complete" experience

You act as if those "exclusive tracks" are only available on vinyls and that people are held at gunpoint to buy them and listen to them on a record player. Like you do realize they are all available for free on any streaming service, right?   Not to mention that some Brat variants also had exclusive tracks that were not on the standard, so your whole premise is wrong to begin with

 

I don't know why Billie is being dragged into this while the criminal Olivia Rodrigo is being left out.

 

GUTS had multiple vinyl variants for each deluxe track, yeah if you wanted to own the complete GUTS album you needed to buy a different vinyl for each deluxe track. That's just shameless and Olivia Rodrigo needs to be dragged for that.

 

Is Taylor selling vinyl with only 7 songs (out of 17 songs)? Is Taylor selling them at $15?

 

 

Maybe Billie is being dragged because she is the one who got up on her soap box complaining 

about how wasteful variants were and then turned around and sold a bunch of.....variants. 

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, OrgVisual said:

Having multiple vinyl variants of different disc colours is not the same as having multiple vinyl variants with different covers and tracklists

I mean the first to do that was Beyonce last year, with Cowboy Carter, which had 5 tracks missing during initial pressing, and recently The Weeknd had versions with different tracklists of his latest album… so where's the outrage for those artists 

This is serving Pig Friday 2 only featuring some of the songs, and not all. Billboard should not count x

why Taylor though?

 

She would be #1 against anyone based on streaming alone   

These Taylor criticisms are so weird. The gap between her and the others is so huge it wouldn't really make a difference chart wise whether she stops doing variants or not. 

Edited July 21, 20251 yr by hawx23

LOL. People always find excuses as to why Taylor is more successful than other artists, but they're always lame and easily proven wrong.

 

They say she sells too much because she has variants, and when their faves do the same they don't see a fraction of the results.

They say she only breaks opening day/week streaming records because her tracklists are long, and when their faves do the same half the album tanks on every platform.

They say she's only as big as she is because she releases too often, and when their faves attempt to do the same they underperform.

 

Back in the day the excuses were "she sells more than my faves because she's country", "she's local, my faves are bigger outside of the US", "we'll see where she is in 10 years", etc., and all and each one of them aged like milk.

 

Y'all really need to try harder at this point, it's getting boring