Travis Scott’s ‘Days Before Rodeo’ Rises to No. 1 on Billboard 200
Travis Scott’s 2014 mixtape Days Before Rodeo reaches No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Sept. 28), vaulting 106-1 after its vinyl editions — exclusively sold by the artist’s webstore — shipped to customers. The set earned 156,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the tracking week ending Sept. 19 (up 1,295%), according to Luminate.
Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 150,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week; it’s No. 1 on Top Album Sales). Vinyl sales comprise 149,000 of that sales figure — Scott’s largest week on vinyl ever. It’s also the biggest week on vinyl for a rap album, as well as the sixth-largest week on vinyl across all genres, since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991.
Days Before Rodeo marks Scott’s fourth No. 1, all earned consecutively. He previously topped the list with Utopia (2023), Astroworld (2018) and Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight (2016).
Days Before Rodeo was initially a free release in 2014. On Aug. 23, it was commercially released for the first time and officially made its wide streaming debut. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 7 with 361,000 units earned in the week ending Aug. 29, largely from the strength of album sales (331,000 — mostly from digital download album sales). The album then fell to No. 30 in its second week, and then to No. 106, before jumping to No. 1 in its fourth week of release.
The vinyl sales pushing Scott to No. 1 began generating pre-orders via his official webstore before the album was released on Aug. 23 via streamers, as a digital download and on CD. It was available in two vinyl variants (a standard edition and a deluxe edition in expanded packaging), as well as two boxed sets (one containing a hoodie and the standard vinyl and one with a T-shirt and the deluxe vinyl), and in two Fan Pack offers (one with a hoodie and the standard vinyl and one with a T-shirt and the deluxe vinyl).
A wide retail release beyond Scott’s webstore for any physical formats of the album has not been announced.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Sept. 28, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday, Sept. 24. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of the 156,000 equivalent album units earned by Days Before Rodeo in the latest tracking week, album sales comprise 150,000 (up 4,608%), SEA units comprise 6,000 (down 25%, equaling 7.94 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (down 30%).
Days Before Rodeo is the second album of 2024 to reach No. 1 without having debuted atop the chart. Toby Keith’s 35 Biggest Hits re-entered the chart dated Feb. 17 at No. 1, following his death; the album had previously debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2008. Before Keith and Scott, the last album to be No. 1 without having debuted at No. 1 was the Encanto soundtrack, which debuted at No. 197 on the Dec. 11, 2021-dated chart, and then rose to No. 1 on the Jan. 15, 2022 list, spending nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1.
Days Before Rodeo additionally has the largest jump to No. 1 since the April 30, 2022 chart; when Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost returned to the top, flying 120-1 after its vinyl release.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet slips to No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 (108,000 equivalent album units; down 8%) after spending its first three weeks atop the chart. It remains at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart for a fourth week.
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is a non-mover at No. 3 (64,000 equivalent album units; up 13%); Post Malone’s former No. 1 F-1 Trillion dips 2-4 (60,000; down 16%); Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time falls 4-5 (52,000; up less than 1%); and Taylor Swift’s former leader The Tortured Poets Department descends 5-6 (51,000; down less than 1%).
Eminem’s chart-topping The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) returns to the top 10, surging 42-7, following its deluxe reissue and CD release. The album was reissued via digital download services and streamers on Sept. 13 with bonus tracks, while on the same day its original standard album was issued in two CD variants. In the tracking week ending Sept. 19, The Death of Slim Shady earned 48,000 equivalent album units (up 180%). Of that sum, album sales comprise 24,000 (up 3,328%), SEA units comprise 23,000 (up 43%; equaling 31.64 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (up 210%).
Rounding out the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200 are Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft (6-8 with 44,000 equivalent album units; down 5%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (8-9 with 38,000; up 2%) and Zach Bryan’s The Great American Bar Scene (7-10 with nearly 38,000; down 1%).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Keith Caulfield
Billboard