Tm4074

I do agree that Olivia and Sabrina cater to a younger audience, and Ariana's music doesn't cater to that demo much anymore. However ES was just two years ago and that did more on-demand streams than MBF (185k) and ES wasn't targeting the kid/young teen demo then either. TUN streaming numbers will never be topped though, not even Olivia nor Sabrina (never came close) have done 307m on-demand streams in a single week. Olivia came close with SOUR but didn't surpass. Yeah I agree, doing this sound and aesthetic was a bold move for a peak Summer release lmao. Visuals were in the same realm as the ES visuals too, which is very much not a Summer album.

Sure but ES deluxe would be 98k streaming units and that was just the year old OG album streams and six new tracks. Released just last year. Considering her first day streams were on par with ES it shows her audience is still there, they just didn't like the music. She can do much better if the music resonated.

TheGrandeTop10 who tracks her sales says HDD is underestimating her pure sales. It should be 170k+. It's going to be close to 300k, could go either way. Unless Billboard filtered her units more than usual which would be weird but possible ig. So annoying how streaming let her down when she finally got her s*** together with pure sales. Can't win. But damn her streaming really collapsed throughout the week, after first day streams it was projected ~160k and that was conservative. This album is very polarizing. 126k streaming units is a significant underperformance for her. It's doing Sweetener on demand streams and that album was released 8 years ago, those numbers were huge at the time but in 2026 not so much (for her standards). Streaming units with this current formula: TUN: 307k ES: 195k Positions: 173k Sweetener: 127k Petal: 126k

Her team just never prioritized pure sales until now. Never even did tour bundles in the 2010s when they were allowed which was an easy way to boost physical sales. Imagine it TUN had a tour bundle. Would have opened 500k+. So many missed opportunities by her team in the past. She more than doubled ES pure just by putting in effort this time. At least now we know she can sell physicals so her next album will have a similar push. And if she follows the Sweetener - TUN - Positions - ES - Petal pattern her next album will be a long term streaming smash lmao.

The irony that streaming let her down and pure sales are strong

welcome back Positions lmao. Hopefully this album finds its legs like Positions did.

Wicked as an Anglosphere phenomenon. It didn't make noise in non-English speaking countries. Petal is her first album she had a coordinated pure sales push for which is showing in these higher debuts in countries like France and Germany. It's hard to debut #1 on the album chart there as an international artist with mostly streams.

Agreed. It's a Positions rehash but not as good as anything on Positions. like i do is a TUN rehash but it's a good rehash at least. I think she is doing that to appease the fans. I wish she didn't have to but some of the fans are insufferable with wanting "the old Ari back" and she's throwing them a bone.

They should be concerned about their IQ

Tate is by far the more skilled and technical dancer. She's highly trained and been a professional working dancer since childhood. However, Britney is the better performer. Britney feels the movement and it's visible in her performance. Tate looks like she's hitting marks, extremely well executed but not rooted in any artistry or feeling. Tate has some moments of this like the Sports Car performance on SNL, her Billboard awards performance of Greedy, and the music video for Revolving Door.

like i do is a shameless TUN rehash but it's so good idc improved version of dandelion

I know, thats kinda the problem lol. The best artists know when to evolve and push themselves creatively. Working with the same collaborators all the time is a set up for things to become redundant. At some point all ideas become exhausted and you're just going through the motions. Nobody evolves stuck in their comfort zone. This same thing is happening to Taylor, The Weeknd, Harry Styles and the worst of all Bruno Mars lmao. All the big 2010s artists are kinda at a creative crossroads right now with needing to evolve their artistry again. There are quite a few interesting ideas on Petal but they aren't fully fleshed out. Having 1-2 new collaborators would help with that. She did push herself working with Pharrell though. She changed her process and that was the most significant shift in her artistry for the better. She would have Katy Perry-ed herself if she didn't decide to take herself out of comfort zone during that time.

About to have her biggest pure sales week ever but her worst streaming week ever (since streaming became dominant). She can't ever win omg. ES needed this sales push. If she had ES streaming units and Petal pure sales she would surpass TUN debut (360k).

Nothing is more frustrating that's she's about to have her biggest pure sales week ever when she's going to have her worst streaming week since streaming became dominant. Sweetener did 126m on-demand streams in 2018 and Petal is going to be around that. Positions looks like a giant smash in comparison, would be 174k in streaming units today. If only ES has this huge sales push. I really like the album but this is probably a sign she needs to switch it up next time. If she wants the arts not charts she needs to commit. Max and Ilya are charts not arts. She didn't commit to either side and neither won lol.

I've been saying they've been setting up Ariana to be Britney's replacement as the public's punching bag for a while. Now that Britney is retired they went full-force into dogpiling on Ariana. They so badly want their tragic child star story for entertainment. They are manifesting her premature death so they can say "gotcha!" It's absolutely deranged how this is normalized. But Ariana suffering from an ED is a moral crisis? Check on the children!!! Pot meet kettle. Obviously not speaking about the actual concern but that isn't dominating the conversation at all. I've about had it with the moralizing from this side of the internet. It's gotten completely out of hand that it's basically the same mindset as conservative brain rot. It's uniquely used to target women specially too. Adult women with adult fan bases that make content for adults are supposed to alter their behavior for children's eyes but men don't have that burden. Same thing they did to Britney. An age old misogynistic perspective that has yet to die. And some of y'all participate in it.

This. One of my faves from the album. I swear to god if she retreats back to her usual sound bc of the response from the basic pop stans I'm going to be pissed. I was hoping she go further in that direction tbh. I find it ironic how people are complaining about wanting big vocals but there are TONS of vocal acrobatics, high notes and belts on Positions and they still complained. She literally said the objective on Positions was to sing more. They want her singing on an Into You dance-pop song not an r&b ballad like off the table, or a neo-soul grove like my hair. It's not about vocals they want basic dance-pop bangers and it ain't happening.

Who isn't admitting there's a problem? We are saying leave her alone. Combing through her likes for a gotcha isn't helping her and it's very transparent that it's to continue the dogpile on someone going through something. Making this about the fans is absurd. This shouldn't be a topic for insufferable stan wars. If you think it's an appropriate topic for stan wars stop pretending to be concerned. Fans have no power regardless, we don't know this woman. Apparently y'all need to be reminded you don't either.

Y'all are certain she has an ED right? This would be in line with ED behaviors. What do you expect? A disordered person to think rationally? Are you surprised when a drug addict continues to use drugs and engage in drug seeking behavior? Can we stop pretending to care or know anything to about mental health. It's clear over and over again society is not prepared to have this conversation. The amount is ableist takes I see regarding this is baffling. The truth is people are uncomfortable around those suffering with mental health conditions and they react accordingly. If you can't approach these topics with empathy and understanding, please excuse yourself from the discourse. It isn't helping her or society at large.

Listening to this album makes me wish she really went there and worked with new producers that can push her. Ilya did some good, interesting work but it's too familiar sometimes. She needs new collaborators to challenge her. From the BTS footage of them making the album he gives her no feedback. He should be giving feedback. No more Max and Ilya after this please. Working with new people will push her artistry forward like Pharrell did on Sweetener. Petal will likely have a reevaluation once we are removed from the current context informing the reception. I think this ranks higher than ES for me based on me loving this production more than ES. ES had a stronger concept and storytelling arc though. Will probably change as time goes on. As of right now: TUN Sweetener Positions Petal Eternal Sunshine Dangerous Woman Yours Truly My Playlist Everything

yes ~150k pure which is double ES pure sales. Streaming is also weighted more now than it was during ES release. ES would have done 271k under this current streaming formula (194k from streaming).

Petal. Positions reception was mostly due to following the critical acclaim, massive commercial success and cultural dominance of TUN. It ended up being successful and had legs. She also wasn't dealing with intense public scrutiny during Positions. GP loved her at the time. Sweetener was part of her peak and was critically acclaimed. It was only polarizing among her pop fans that wanted DW 2.0.

No it's still pacing for 300k+ as of today. Ironically pure sales are saving the week. She is projected to do around ~150k pure. If this continues to pace similar to Positions on streaming which it seems to be doing she should be around ~155k streaming units, unless there are uncharacteristic drops before the end of the tracking week. Still less streaming units than Positions overall (172k under this current streaming formula) an underperformance for her standards but absolutely not a disaster by any means.

I would love for it to surpass Positions but that's unlikely. Positions had several viral songs after release that really boosted it. 34+35, motive and pov all went viral. The album did 17 weeks in the top 10, would have done more if Christmas albums weren't clogging the charts during the holiday season. Petal probably won't have that type of run, unfortunately (hope I'm wrong of course). Idk how everything went sour with this era in just 48 hours. Petal will be certified platinum and has a hit so it could be worse. But for her standards that's the bare minimum. And it will be her second biggest debut on the Billboard 200. Hopefully she comes back stronger when she's ready and have herself a long break to be a human being and live life outside of the public eye.

I hate that this break is a result of nasty public scrutiny but it's for the best. As she said in WCBF wait until you like me again. The public has NO boundaries when it comes to her. It's baffling. It's not close to this bad even with Taylor. Only comparison I can think of is Britney Spears. Idk what it is about her but they all project onto her and it's extremely concerning. I wonder if she's not going to promote Focker In Law? Or just do minimal promo? It's released only 2 months after tour.

Yeah but there isn't that many of them, tbh. Her current music isn't catered towards a young audience. They might enjoy her older stuff and Glinda but that's it. At her concerts the kids present are there with their mother who is the fan. Kids are fickle too, they like different things each week. Ariana is 33 years old and been a huge pop star for almost 15 years. Her fanbase is mostly adult women and gays atp.