Sabrina Carpenter vs. Travis Scott Round 2: Will 'Days Before Rodeo' Lasso be No. 1 this time?

The contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top Bulletin board charts and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the Sept. 28-dated charts, we return to the Billboard 200, where Sabrina Carpenter's latest has reigned for the first three weeks — but now she faces a familiar challenger, reinvigorated.

Sabrina Carpenter, Short n' Sweet (Island): For a 12-track album without an expanded deluxe edition available on DSP, the consumption endurance for Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet it was impressive. After bowing atop the Billboard 200 with 362,000 units earned in its debut week, the set not only held at No. 1 for the past two weeks (amidst a not particularly busy release schedule), but went on to post total units in the six digits – 117,000 in week three – a combination only her good friend Taylor Swift had previously managed this year, of course with a 15-week No.1 Department of Tormented Poets.

The set should continue to decline in its fourth week, but only slowly – the album still holds four of the top 10 spots on the Daily Top Songs USA chart and three on Apple Music in real time, with fan favorite “Bed Chem” slowly climbs towards the territory of the set's chart-topping trio: “Espresso”, “Please Please Please” and “Taste”. SnS may also benefit some from Carpenter's debut on the VMAs mainstage last Wednesday (September 11), where she played a medley of those three hits (and made it with an alien), while also picking up Song of the Year for Moonperson “Espresso”.

Travis Scott, Days before the Rodeo (Cactus Jack/Epic): If Carpenter thought she had defeated Travis Scott for good during their showdown for the top spot three weeks earlier — where Short n' Sweet ends out Days before the Rodeo for No. 1 by less than 1,000 points, one of the closest races of the year – he might have to think twice next week. While Scott's album has already dropped from No. 2 to No. 106 on the Billboard 200, and the rapper has already pulled out many of the stops with the digital reissue of his beloved 2014 mixtape in its first week of re-release, he hasn't However, hit the button to send any vinyl copies of the album.

That changes this week, as does the vinyl release Days before the Rodeo has begun shipping to fans — both the vinyl LP (in its standard and deluxe editions, with different packaging between the two) and the two deluxe vinyl boxed sets (one with a branded hoodie and an album and one with a branded T-shirt and an album). Although the flow presence of Days before the Rodeo it's pretty minimal compared to his dominance throughout the album Short n' Sweetthat sales advantage could be huge enough — with Scott's fans having long proven willing to pay for his physical releases — to put it back in the running on the Billboard 200 this week, and quite possibly over the top for first time.

IN THE MIX

Eminem, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope): Speaking of last week's VMAs – headlined by MTV icon Eminem, who re-assembled the Slim Shady Army from his classic 2000 performance of “The Real Slim Shady” for his opening performance of current hit “Houdini “. This song's parent album, its career bookend The Death of Slim Shadywe should see a small bump from that performance next week – but it'll be helped even more by a new deluxe edition of the set, which hit digital retailers and streamers on Friday, as well as the release of the CD version of the album, both in a wide general release and as a d2c exclusive edition with alternate album art.

Miranda Lambert, Postcard from Texas (Vanner/Republic/Big Loud): It's always good to get a new LP from country great Miranda Lambert, who has reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 with each of her last seven unaccompanied solo sets – most recently the No. 4-chart Palomino in 2021. The album is available for sale on CD and vinyl, with signed copies of both available for purchase via her website.