Travis Scott’s 2014 mixtape Days before Rodeo jumps from number 106 all the way to number 1, thanks to a huge surge in vinyl sales.

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Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images

The Billboard The charts are fickle this week. Certainly, Shaboozey remains unmoved at the top of the Hot 100 singles chart, where “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” spends its eleventh non-consecutive week. But on the album chart it’s by Sabrina Carpenter Short and sweet being displaced from No. 1 by the 10th anniversary release of Travis Scott’s 2014 mixtape Days before Rodeo. That record jumps from number 106 all the way to number 1, thanks to a huge surge in vinyl sales. And while physical media is also helping Eminem get back into the Top 10, last week’s most prominent debuts all take a huge dive—in many cases, falling off the charts altogether.

TOP ALBUMS

Earlier this month, the battle for the number 1 spot on the Billboard The 200 album chart came down to a neck-and-neck race between pop star Sabrina Carpenter Short and sweet and that of rapper Travis Scott Days before Rodeoa mixtape that had just received an official release on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. Both albums’ numbers were eclipsed by variant editions and/or online discounts, and the race was so close that Scott’s team even contested Billboard‘s chart data as Carpenter took the top spot, while Scott came in at No. 2.

From there though Short and sweet seemed much more durable, as it stayed at No. 1 for three weeks Days before Rodeo From No. 2 to No. 30 and then to No. 106. This week, however, Scott’s fortunes have improved dramatically, thanks to a phenomenon that far predates the advent of online streaming: vinyl sales. Days before Rodeo was recently credited with selling approximately 149,000 vinyl copies – the most any hip-hop album has sold in a single week on vinyl during the streaming era – rising all the way from No. 106 to the No. 1 position where it had been denied three weeks earlier. All those vinyl copies were sold through Scott’s online store, which had several deluxe editions to offer.

There is quite a precedent for vinyl-based card climbing. In 2022, for example, Tyler, The Creator’s Call me if you get lost rose from number 120 to number 1 thanks to its vinyl release. And Scott isn’t the only rapper to take advantage of physical media this week: Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)which topped the charts earlier this summer, recovers from number 42 to number 7 thanks to a deluxe reissue and CD release. (A high-profile ending that occurred during the opening moments of the VMAs couldn’t have hurt either.)

Carpenter is at No. 2 this week, followed by Chappell’s Roan The rise and fall of a Midwestern princess (sticking to number 3) and a whole bunch of sliders: Post Malone’s F-1 trillion (No. 2 to No. 4), Morgan Wallen’s One thing at a time (No. 4 to No. 5), Taylor Swift’s The department of tortured poets (No. 5 to No. 6), Billie Eilish’s Hit me hard and soft (No. 6 to No. 8), Noah Kahan’s Stick season (No. 8 to No. 9) and Zach Bryan’s The great American bar scene (No. 7 to No. 10).

TOP NUMBERS

Again, there are no new entries in the Top 10 – and there is only minimal shuffling among the old, reliable numbers. Shaboozey’s ‘A Bar Song (Tipsy)’ has now spent 11 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1, ranking it fourth among songs that have spent the most weeks at the top of the chart in the 2020s, followed by another week at number 1. 2 for Post Malone’s ‘I Had Some Help’, which features Wallen. Carpenter has three songs left in the Top 10 for another week: “Espresso” (No. 3), “Taste” (No. 8) and “Please Please Please” (No. 9).

Chappell Roan rounds out the Top 10, reaching a new high with “Good Luck, Babe!” (which rises from No. 7 to No. 4), Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” slides from No. 4 to No. 5, Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” drops from No. 5 to No. .5 At No. 6, Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” rises from No. 9 to No. 7, and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” remains at No. 10. In any case, Roan and Swims seem to have experienced a bump from high. – Also profiling performances at the VMAs, but it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact source of ticket movements from week to week.

For those lamenting the Hot 100’s late-summer stagnation, there is some hope to be found in the Top 20, especially in the charts of three new songs. The Weeknd, who knows a thing or two about songs that stick on the charts, enters the Hot 100 this week at No. 14 with “Dancing in the Flames,” while Playboi Carti’s “All Red” shows up right behind at No. 15. Pop singer Tate McRae’s “It’s OK I’m OK” also enters the Hot 100, debuting at No. 20.

MENTIONING

Last week, this column noted the frequency with which new albums enjoy lofty chart debuts, only to plummet precipitously in the weeks that follow. It’s an ordinary one Billboard trajectory these days, especially considering the number of catalog titles and greatest hits collections clogging the charts for years. So when six albums debuted in the Top 50 last week, I wondered how long they would last, considering how quickly other albums had burned out in recent months.

Well, they all collapsed.

The most fortunate among them is singer-songwriter Jessie Murph That’s not a man, that’s the devil fell from No. 24 to No. 97; her descent may have been slowed, at least a little, by the appearance of her VMAs. But four of the six disappeared from the charts completely: George Strait’s Cowboys and dreamers (No. 14 last week), K-pop singer Tzuyu’s aboutTZU: The first mini album (No. 19), Paris Hilton’s Infinity icon (for which “infinity” turned out to have “a week at number 38”), and LL Cool J’s The POWER (no. 50) are all nowhere to be found. The other title, that of David Gilmour Happiness and strangehas now seen both ends of the Billboard 200 up close: It debuted at No. 10 last week and is now, seven days later, at No. 198.

So, with just the tiniest ounce of optimism, I note the following chart hits: Miranda Lambert’s Postcards from Texas (no. 21), keshis Requiem (no. 27) and that of BOYNEXTDOOR 19.99 (no. 40). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: don’t get too attached to it.