How Much Did Merch Help Propel Travis Scott’s 'Utopia' to Number One?

Travis Scott officially landed his third number one album yesterday with Utopia selling 496,000 equivalent album units. That total makes it the highest hip-hop debut of 2023. 

While the album obviously streamed well, all 19 tracks charted on the Hot 100 including the Drake-assisted “Meltdown,” which debuted the highest at number 3, you know Travis Scott also made sure to drop off a ton of merch bundles for his fans to celebrate. If you’ve been keeping track throughout his career, the merch is a big part of the experience. And it has many purposes. Fans receive memorabilia and Scott gets some help on the Billboard charts.

But didn’t Billboard stop counting merch packs? Well, they did, but as of May 2023 the rules were tweaked once again, meaning Utopia arrived at the perfect time. Get some more details on how much Utopia merch helped propel the album to the number one spot, below. 

Yes, back in 2019 Billboard changed its rules to limit the gaming of the system with bundles. Before, Travis Scott could sell and bundle merch however he liked to ensure that those numbers would go towards his album sales/streams. But with the new rules, Billboard said that bundles had to be available on their own so customers had the option to not purchase the album if they didn't want to. The merch also had to be priced lower on its own than it would be as part of the bundle.

In 2020, they stopped counting bundles altogether. But that changed again in May 2023 to allow “fan packs” to be eligible on the Billboard charts. Each pack sold equals one album sale. “Fan Pack offerings are a way to recognize the dynamic artist-fan relationship,” said Billboard executive VP of charts and data partnerships Silvio Pietroluongo. However, there are still limitations. Only two bundled options can be offered for an album and the other item in the bundle must be a physical item. This means a T-shirt can be bundled with a CD or a hoodie can be bundled with a vinyl record. Both of those bundles options will count as an individual album sale. Digital downloads can’t be coupled with merch. Merch must be bundled with a CD or vinyl in order to count as a unit sold. Merch has no impact on sales when purchased independently.

According to Billboard, Utopia went number one with a total of 496,000 album sales. When you break it down, 230,000 come from SEA (streaming equivalent albums), 252,000 come from album sales (a combination of digital downloads, CDs, and vinyls), and 1,000 come from TEA (track equivalent albums). 

So, where does the merch come into play? Of the 252,000 album sales, roughly 75,000 of them came by way of merch and zine bundles. Utopia would have still topped the number two album this week, Post Malone’s Austin (113,000 total album sales), without the merch bundles. But the merch bundles still played a role in pushing Travis Scott’s first-week numbers for Utopia even higher. 

To celebrate the release of Utopia, Travis Scott has offered a wide variety of merch bundles on his web store. Those drops have included various graphic T-shirts and hoodies, which are typical for Scott. Some featured special collaborative graphics created by Kaws and Saint Michael. Scott's also released interesting options like studded belts, white Air Force 1s lasered with Utopia logos, and even the famed Utopia briefcases seen carried around by Travis and other feature artists ahead of the album’s release. We wouldn’t be surprised if he releases more merch down the line to keep Utopia at the top spot.

Travis Scott offered five unique album covers for fans to choose between on both CD and vinyl, which featured photography from the likes of Pieter Hugo and Kristina Nagel. These CDs and vinyls were also available in 15 unique box sets along with merch that fans could choose between. Photo zines with six unique covers are also currently available on Travis Scott’s web store that are bundled with a special edition CD.

For a limited time after Utopia dropped, Scott's team allowed shoppers to purchase an album for just $4.99 when they purchased a piece of merch. For instance, if you buy a Utopia zip-up hoodie, you would then be able to add the physical album that usually sells for $12 to your cart for just $4.99 (the same price that a digital download is being sold for). The discounted price undoubtedly enticed many consumers. And since this is not technically a bundle deal, each sale counted as one unit sold.