All 3 albums had very impressive first week sales in the US following hit albums but are now notorious in stan spaces for having just okay longevity. They were also all somewhat controversial upon release.

Which album is the most frontloaded?

Definitely not BTW since that album was still having hit singles over a decade later

It was Tloas technically because of the massive opening

not BTW

I would think objectively its 30 no? BTW had judas bloody mary resurgence and its way too soon to say for tloas

Edited September 4Sep 4 by anastaciabby

We won't be able to make a full judgment on TLOAS for a few more years, but I would probably say 30 out of these. BTW's resurgence and (relative) longevity on streaming has been pretty impressive, it's doing 2x 30's streams daily despite being years older

Edited September 4Sep 4 by Veckatimest

I mean you can't really compare because we don't know if TLOAS or 30 will randomly go viral 10 years later

TLOAS won't serve OUT-OUT at 60 weeks like the other two

It can't be BTW when it had a revival just a few years ago. 30 has EOM, which was an organic GP smash so the answer is TLOAS

TLOAS it OUT in many parts of Europe and UK so that one

TLOAS - 12M units in 11 months

BTW - 17M units in 15 years

30 - 10M units in 5 years

Week 46 B200

TLOAS - #33

BTW - #166

30 - OUT

There was a sneak i fear. I feel like albums like Utopia and HTE would've fitted better but they didn't have really big openings to begin with

Edited September 4Sep 4 by WildHeart

I haven't heard anything about TLOAS outside of the day ATRL collectively collapsed kikiing over the lyrics on release day and then discussed it flopping on the UK charts…so I'll say that one

Well why don't we compare their chart runs?

Definitely 30

5 minutes ago, Feanor said:

It can't be BTW when it had a revival just a few years ago. 30 has EOM, which was an organic GP smash so the answer is TLOAS

Ophelia already outcharted EOM in the UK and is still charting, so I don't see how one can be an organic smash while the other isn't

Edited September 4Sep 4 by Veckatimest

1 minute ago, Veckatimest said:

Ophelia already outcharted EOM in the UK and is still charting, so I don't see how one can be an organic smash and the other isn't

One had true organic GP interest, the other is carried by fans mass streaming and bulk buying.

Definitely The Life of a Showgirl

Around 60% of its units still come from its first week

16 minutes ago, By the Water said:

TLOAS won't serve OUT-OUT at 60 weeks like the other two

yes, because it served OUT at 47 week

6 minutes ago, PenguinTim said:

Well why don't we compare their chart runs?

Why do y'all keep directly comparing chart runs with pre-streaming albums... A Gracie Abrams album has more weeks charted than LOUD, Born This Way, Dangerously in Love, and every Britney album.

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30 had a worse chart run the TLOASG, but frontloaded is relative to a debut. If an album is selling 10K second week after debuting with 100K, it is not "more frontloaded" than an album selling 11K after debuting with 1 million simply because its selling less.

TLOASG still hasn't doubled its first week in total numbers, and selling 20k weekly at this point after debuting with 4 million is more frontloaded than Adele selling 10k weekly at this point after debuting with 850k.

11 minutes ago, dejmieeen said:

yes, because it served OUT at 47 week

Even in the UK charts 30 departed after 45 weeks so Adele still wins

20 minutes ago, WildHeart said:

Week 46 B200

TLOAS - #33

BTW - #166

30 - OUT

I feel like this tells the story pretty cleanly alone. Screaming at TLOAS being "notorious in stan spaces for having just okay longevity" on… the literal day it falls off the chart. And just in the UK, not the US, its biggest market, where it's still doing fine.

21 minutes ago, iHype. said:

Why do y'all keep directly comparing chart runs with pre-streaming albums... A Gracie Abrams album has more weeks charted than LOUD, Born This Way, Dangerously in Love, and every Britney album.

---

30 had a worse chart run the TLOASG, but frontloaded is relative to a debut. If an album is selling 10K second week after debuting with 100K, it is not "more frontloaded" than an album selling 11K after debuting with 1 million simply because its selling less.

TLOASG still hasn't doubled its first week in total numbers, and selling 20k weekly at this point after debuting with 4 million is more frontloaded than Adele selling 10k weekly at this point after debuting with 850k.

The only takeaway here is that TLOASG debuted with more than 30 and will end up charting for longer (much longer in US)

7 minutes ago, Popboi. said:

The only takeaway here is that TLOASG debuted with more than 30 and will end up charting for longer (much longer in US)

Which still is not what frontloaded refers to. An album that debuts with 1 million first week and charts for 5 weeks total is less frontloaded than an album that debuts with 20K first week and charts for 4 weeks total using your logic.

Frontloaded refers to how absolutely fast sales collapsed after first week, not by the total weeks charting.

47 minutes ago, Feanor said:

One had true organic GP interest, the other is carried by fans mass streaming and bulk buying.

Can you show us the data to back this up?

TLOAS