'Calm': 5 Seconds of Summer fans claim 10k unaccounted albums cost the band #1 spot on Billboard 200
Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer's latest album 'CALM' has been making waves all over the world and is a huge hit among fans. But despite its success in many parts of the world, it appears to have fallen short on the Billboard 200, and the fans are upset.
The album narrowly beat Dua Lipa's 'Future Nostalgia' on the UK's 'Official Albums Chart', making 'CALM' the band's second Number 1 in the UK after their 2015 album 'Sounds Good Feels Good'.
But despite its success in other parts of the world and the band's previous albums debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 before, 'CALM' has missed the coveted spot on the chart this time around and fans believe this is grossly unjust. In fact, they're so upset, they've created a petition demanding the alleged error to be rectified.
The petition claims that 10,000 copies of the album 'CALM' were sent out earlier than expected, alleging that this led to these albums not being counted and costing 5SOS their number 1 spot. It states, "10,000 physical copies of 5 Seconds of Summer's 4th studio album, CALM, were released to the public a week earlier than projected. There have been several instances where other artists' (i.e. Harry Styles, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, One Direction) albums were released early and it did not affect their place on the Billboard 200 chart during their debut."
The petition further reads, "5 Seconds of Summer have debuted at number one for every previous album they've released. The difference between 5 Seconds of Summer's CALM and The Weeknd's After Hours is 2,556 units sold, a number that 5 Seconds of Summer surpassed with the 10,000 physical copies. This petition is being created to change their position on the Billboard 200 so that it reflects the ~10,000 copies that were released early."
Fans also took to Twitter to express their anger and frustration. One fan states, "it's not about the #2. it's about the fact that if ticketmaster wouldn't have f*cked up and sent the albums earlier 5sos would have debuted this week and at #1. i know they are proud of us for how hard we have been working but come on... they must be frustrated, who isn't," adding "it's also about the fact that other artists' albums have also been shipped earlier and it didn't affect their debut week but it affects 5sos? why exactly, what is the reason to screw them over."
Their frustration has caused #BillboardCountThe10KSales to trend widely, but Billboard has yet to respond to the fandom. If the album sales count is revised, then 5SOS would knock The Weeknd's 'After Hours' off the number 1 spot.
One fan tweets, "Imagine billboard considered the 10k album sales and 5SOS hit #1 in US charts. F*CK 5SOS WORLD DOMINATION," to which another responded, "wow imagine if @billboard actually did their job and accurately counted 5sos’ sales instead of punishing them for something they had no control over... #BillboardCountThe10KSales #BillboardDoTheRightThing"