Travis Scott breaks all his records (and everyone else’s) with the release of UTOPIA. This is the rapper’s first album release since 2018’s ASTROWORLD. Arguably the biggest album of that year, ASTROWORLD marked a shift in rap culture. UTOPIA already toppled the former’s numbers, but will it have the same cultural impact?
As for the numbers, let’s dive in. Travis Scott’s UTOPIA is No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. According to Billboard, that is the “third-biggest week of 2023 for any album and the largest for any R&B/hip-hop or rap release.” Also according to Billboard, UTOPIA earned 496,000 equivalent album units in the United States alone by August 3rd. Half of those units moved are from sales. In the age of free digital music consumption, this is massively impressive.
Apple Music stated that UTOPIA earned the biggest first-day streams of any album release in 2023. Spotify confirmed that the new album earned the title of the most-streamed record on its release day with 128 million streams. Then it earned 79 million on day two. That is more than every single rap album released this year. Since Friday’s release, UTOPIA’s worldwide Spotify streams have reached over 330 million.
Travis Scott: Live and on the Silver Screen
It’s not just streaming and album sales that are huge for Travis Scott right now. The rapper’s first concert to promote the album was a 60,000-person event at the ancient Roman stadium Circus Maximus. If you missed the concert in person, have no fear. Iconic film directors Gaspar Noe and Nicolas Winding Refn joined Travis Scott in directing a filmed release of the concert. Titled CIRCUS MAXIMUS, the film is playing on thousands of screens across the U.S. in AMC theaters. Although, you might still have some fear, as tickets sell out in seconds.
In an interview with Billboard, Cactus Jack GM David Stromberg said the following regarding UTOPIA:
“A24 releases merch for their big movies, Disney and Marvel create massive product lines around their blockbusters, fans line up for jerseys and official merch at every sporting event. But strangely in music, it’s now considered a negative towards overall consumption and metrics behind a project. I feel record-breaking artists who are able to move merchandise at an elite level should be celebrated at a time when branding, creativity and marketing [are] generally nonexistent in the music industry.”
He added: “While the numbers are powerful and have important historical context, our focus is always primarily on the music and world-building. ASTROWORLD was such a seminal moment in culture, we wanted to level up that energy and recapture the feeling of event albums, which are clearly lacking in music lately. UTOPIA‘s first-week global streaming numbers actually almost doubled ASTROWORLD, Billboard just quantifies merch bundles differently now than in 2018 [in terms of sales]. On a global consumption level, it’s safe to say it actually far surpassed ASTROWORLD.
Features on UTOPIA and Where to Buy
10 artists are featured on UTOPIA: 21 Savage, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Drake, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, SZA, The Weeknd, and Young Thug.
You can purchase UTOPIA and the five variant album covers through vinyl, CD, and merchandise box sets available at shop.travisscott.com.
