Taylor Swift Deliberately Blocked Charli XCX from a #1 Debut of Album: Report

Despite achieving Charli XCX's largest debut yet, Brat is set to debut at #2 on the U.K. album charts, trailing behind The Tortured Poets Department, which continues its dominance for a sixth consecutive week as Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" arrives in the country.

Fans raised eyebrows at the timing of Swift's announcement regarding the release of six U.K.-only album variants, made available for the final five hours of the tracking week.

The additional sales from these variants, which included voice memo demos and live versions of previously released tracks, gave Swift the competitive edge, according to the Official Charts.

"Taylor Swift is releasing new versions of her snoozefest album only in the U.K. because Charli is predicted to go #1 there," one X user wrote.

"Why is Taylor Swift threatened by Charli XCX?" another user asked. "[I love you] but you are on top of the world let Charli have her moment."

Online, signs of Swift fatigue are emerging following the monumental success of The Tortured Poets Department, which sold over 1.4 million copies on its first day.

Critics have even launched a website to track the staggering number of album variants (currently tallying 58 permutations).

"I'm so over this woman," vented another X user in reaction to the news.

Meanwhile, on TikTok, fans criticize Swift's "greed" and question her defensive stance in the face of competition from other female artists.

This scenario mirrors a previous album variant rollout last month, when Swift's album edged out Billie Eilish's Hit Me Hard And Soft for the top spot, bolstered by digital album sales featuring previously unreleased voice memo demos, sparking a similar outcry from fans online.

Brat, which currently boasts a 95/100 score on review aggregator Metacritic and has been hailed as the top project of 2024 so far, also utilized a deluxe edition strategy to elevate its chart position.

Titled "Brat and it's the same but there's three more songs so it's not," this edition featured the popular track "Spring Breakers."

The album is anticipated to debut in the top 5 on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Both Swifties and Charli's fans took note of a reference in the track "360" to Gabriette Bechtel, fiancée of Swift's ex Matt Healy, purportedly the subject of several tracks on The Tortured Poets Department.

Interestingly, Charli is engaged to Healy's bandmate, George Daniel, adding a layer of intrigue to the dynamic between the artists.

Tags

Taylor Swift, Charli XCX