Travis Scott’s label Cactus Jack Records has issued an official statement to Billboard challenging the rapper’s No. 2 spot on the most recent album chart.
“Days Before Rodeo”, Scott’s mixtape originally released for free in 2014, was re-released commercially in August 2023.
Despite being ten years old, the album nearly claimed the number one spot on the Billboard 200 this week, trailing only Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet” by a few hundred units.
Cactus Jack Records sent a letter to Billboard and Luminate, obtained by Vulture, raising concerns about the reliability and completeness of this week’s data. They claimed that some sales were missing from the tally, which could have affected the final rankings.
The “ASTROWORLD” rapper strategically released multiple deluxe versions of the album to hit No. 1 just before the tracking period ended on August 29 — a tactic that reportedly caught Carpenter’s attention.
According to Cactus Jack Records, last-minute orders caused significant delays in processing, leaving about 1,000 units unaccounted for. The label claims this unexpected number may have changed the outcome.
Changes in rankings and sales figures
Initially, Cactus Jack reportedly believed they were ahead of Carpenter by 11,000 units. However, when sales figures from independent retailers were tallied, Carpenter was ahead.
According to the label’s letter, Carpenter’s standalone sales were allegedly overstated, allowing her to take the top spot with 362,000 copies, narrowly edging out Scott’s 361,000.
Travis Scott’s record label argues that Sabrina Carpenter beat him to the number one spot on the US album chart.
The unnamed representative claimed that Billboard’s methodology was “unreliable and incomplete” and that they missed “an extremely large number of orders” in their counting. pic.twitter.com/TOF1NDtjXo
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 6, 2024
The rapper’s team claims that Luminate has failed to respond to their repeated requests to include the missing units in the count. They note that the company’s lack of response is similar to a previous issue with the release of Scott’s 2023 album “Utopia,” when Luminate was required to add a specific number of sales.
The letter stated: “Everyone has been clueless about Luminate all week.”
Cactus Jack also raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving a former Island Records employee now working at Luminate, and urged a review of Scott’s unrecorded units.
“This is particularly troubling considering that he was in a legitimate and proven relationship with her when he signed with Island in early 2021 while he was still employed by the company (which lasted until May 2021),” the letter states.
“It is obvious that logic will guide you. [Nelson] Thomas [Partnerships Manager, Business Development for Luminate] has a personal motive to encourage artists to sign with his previous company [Island Records, Carpenter’s record label] while still within his tenure to ‘win’ this week’s race.”
In a statement to Vulture, Luminate reaffirmed its commitment to the accuracy of its statistics, stating: “We are confident that our numbers are accurate according to our processes and methodologies.”
A representative for Cactus Jack also shared with Rolling Stone, “This isn’t about Travis vs. Sabrina — it’s about the integrity of the process and the questionable tactics used in the U.S. charts. This could happen to any artist.”
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Tags Travis Scott, Sabrina Carpenter