(August 16, 2024). Soft sales week? No other superstar albums slated for release? Taylor’s numbers at their lowest yet?
Perfect time for Ye (and Ty Dolla $ign) to release the followup to Vultures 1, right?
Wrong.
In what has been one of the most publicized beefs in popular music history, Taylor Swift and Ye (formerly Kanye West) this week duked it out in an area they rarely — if ever — have before: at the top of the Billboard album chart.
And the outcome of this week’s fight is likely to have the rapper screaming foul after Swift pulled yet another bit of well-timed magic to keep her Tortured Poets Department at the top of the albums list, this time at the expense of Ye & Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2, which was surprise-released in what was thought to be a soft market for its competition and a sure bet for a No. 1 debut on the latest chart (dated August 17).
Instead, Vultures 2 — with 107,000 album-equivalent units moved — settled for a No. 2 debut behind Swift’s juggernaut, which logged its 14th non-consecutive week at No. 1 with more than 142,000 units consumed, which doubled the previous week’s sum (71,000).
Talk about Tortured.
Or maybe it’s more like a Swift haymaker.
The epic battle between two of this century’s music titans was setup last week when Ye & Ty released the long-delayed followup to this year’s earlier No. 1 set, Vultures 1, which topped the list in February and March. Vultures 2 was initially due to be released in March and was delayed until May and then again until Friday, August 1.
Album delays and odd release patterns are nothing new for Ye, but one factor contributing to the “Gold Digger” rapper pushing the schedule for Vultures 2 may have been the strong numbers posted by the competition over the past few months, particularly Taylor’s Tortured, whose weekly sums have exceeded 100,000 units in all but one of its weeks — the most recent one — at the top.
In fact, before Taylor’s low sum a week ago, every No. 1 album since March 23 had posted at least 100,000 album equivalent units, in several cases more than 200,000 and in a few instances, over 400,000. Taylor’s Tortured debuted in May with an astronomical 2.6 million units compiled in its first week.
It wasn’t until last week, when Tortured returned to No. 1 after a two-week hiatus, that the album chart saw its first topper in over four months selling fewer than six-figures. Taylor’s more earthly 71,000 units were the fewest for a No. 1 album since Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time crowned the list in March with a count of just 68,000.
It’s no secret that these artists watch the Billboard charts like presidential candidates study poll numbers. Clearly Taylor’s lowest weekly figure yet must have seemed like the perfect opportunity for Ye & Ty to pounce with the second Vultures offering. Ye was gunning for his 12th consecutive No. 1 album, which would have placed him solely in fifth place all-time behind the Beatles (19), Jay-Z and Taylor (both with 14), and Drake (13).
But the former Kanye must not have been observing Swift’s shiftiness over the past three months. Whenever there’s been a perceived threat at the top, she’s released new vinyl variants, restocked physical copies at her online store, offered new digital versions, or boosted sales by tying the album to other new merch.
She did it with Billie Eilish, then again with Zach Bryan, and now it’s happened with Ye & Ty. Without the new digital variants — each apparently featuring a live version of a different song from the pop queen’s Era’s Tour — Kanye’s sum would have been enough to ensure a No. 1 debut for Vultures 2. The sales of the new digital versions of Tortured caused a huge spike in Taylor’s pure album sales. Ye tried to keep up with some late-week adds of his own variations on Vultures 2, but it was too little too late.
Taylor is pulling out the stops again during this week’s tracking period (for next week’s chart) as she’s just issued more limited-time-only digital variants of Tortured after sensing a threat from this year’s new upstart Chappell Roan, whose breakthrough album is now within striking distance of toppling Tortured on the chart dated August 24.
With Ye’s album sure to make a huge tumble on that chart from this week’s No. 2 debut (and peak), the controversial rapper will remain in a four-way tie for fifth-place with Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen and Eminem, all with eleven No. 1 albums apiece on the Billboard 200.
For his part, Ty Dolla $ign’s No. 1 count will remain at one with the first Vultures album being his sole topper.
To add insult to injury, on Thursday (8/15), Taylor re-stylized a live version of one of the tracks on her album as “thank You aimEe” (previously “thanK you aIMee”), with capitalization changed from KIM (Kardashian) to YE in response to the roles that both ex-spouses played in shaming Swift after Ye claimed the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer gave him permission to name drop her in a vulgar reference on his 2017 song “Famous.”
This must feel like a victory for Swift to thrash Kanye in what’s been one of the fiercest beefs in music history. And to be the artist that ends the rapper’s No. 1 streak — one of the longest in Billboard’s archives— at eleven must feel like “karma,” especially on the eve of the fifteenth anniversary of their infamous first encounter at the 2009 MTV VMAs.
If not karma then perhaps it’s a bit of “Poetic” justice… at least in the eyes of millions of Swifties out there.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog and on Meta’s Threads.
You can also register for free (select the menu bars above) to receive notifications of future articles.