5 Seconds of Summer fans have been criticizing Billboard for an alleged "chart error" and
now the 5SOS drummer Ashton Irwin has joined them with guns a blazin!
What’s up?
It’s Emile Ennis Jr. here with Clevver News bringing you all the news updates from my
Clevver home studio.
And in case you missed it, on March 27th 5 Seconds of Summer released their highly-anticipated
fourth studio album CALM.
CALM received extremely positive reviews from fans and critics and it topped the charts
in both the UK and Australia.
But the album debuted at Number 2 in the US only 2,000 copies behind The Weeknd's album
After Hours.
But fans have been speaking out saying that it actually sold more than The Weeknd's album.
And now one of the 5SOS members himself is speaking out on the matter saying that they
missed the Number 1 spot on a shipping error technicality.
And we’ll get to all the tea cause honestly it’s intense, but first, go ahead and subscribe
to Clevver News if you haven’t already so you never miss out on any breaking news updates.
Alright so what happened?
Shortly after CALM came out, 5SOS tweeted that because of a shipping error, 10,000 copies
of the album were sold one week early, and consequently Billboard didn't include them
in their first full tracking week of sales.
They wrote quote, “Hey guys, we found out a few days ago that due to a shipping error
around 10,000 copies of our album were sent out early in the U.S.
Those albums will now appear in this week’s Billboard chart, a week before our album was
due to chart.
We still wanna make our album chart next week as big as possible and want to thank you all
so much.”
Okay first off, whoever placed the early shipment… well take cover!
You’ve got many upset 5SOS fans!
Once the numbers came out and fans saw that 5SOS was only a couple thousand copies behind
The Weeknd’s album, they were quick to realize that had the 10,000 albums been included,
CALM would have landed at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 in the US.
And as usual fans were quick to hop on Twitter to share some thoughts.
One person wrote quote, “RT if you agree that @billboard should do the right thing
and come to a compromise by counting the 10k sales (or even half of the sales) from the
“clerical error” so 5SOS can claim their *much deserved* 4th #1 album”
Another said quote, “i love you guys so much, you deserve a #1 album again”
And another wrote quote, “Such a bummer that there was an “accidental” early release
of 10k @5sos records — and they lost #1 by only 3k.
Someone should lose their job.
These guys deserved #1.”
And now, 5SOS drummer Ashton Irwin has spoken out about the “disappointing” situation,
and continued to thank fans for their support.
He posted a video on Twitter and captioned it saying quote, “I’m apprehensive to
share this video, I think I’ve censored myself fairly well, I feel fearful to speak
up about the albums that went out early for fear of losing partnership with media outlets...
but here’s some thought’s…”
Ashton started off by explaining his frustration with the situation that they ended up actually
losing out on even more copies than they originally thought.
Then he went on to explain that while Billboard has actually gone back and fixed the numbers
for other artists in the past, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen for them.
And Ashton ended his video by sending love to the fanbase.
He said quote, “I love you guys.
Remain sincere, keep voicing when things are wrong and I’ll try and be as brave as you
are.”
And fans are obviously rallying behind Ashton on his Twitter post.
I want to know what you guys think about this though.
Do you think Billboard should reverse the early release error and give 5SOS their number
1 spot?
Or do you think they should leave it as is?
Let me know and get the conversation started down in the comments below.
One person replied to Ashton’s tweeted and wrote quote, “we are proud of YOU regardless
where you chart.
however this is a problem that needs to not only be addressed but FIXED.
you deserve that #1, please know you are always #1 to us no matter what happens.
calm is insane and i’m grateful you shared it with us #BillboardIncludeThe10k”
Another said quote, “I’m genuinely so sorry that your hardwork is being disrespected
by some companies - by some “error”s but we have your back ALWAYS.”
And another wrote quote, “we will not stop fighting for you guys , you guys deserve the
number 1 spot and we all know it”
This 5SOS fan has to be given a shoutout, because he made a video expressing his feelings!
He tweeted, “Billboard… sort it out #addthe10kbillboard #billboardspeakup!”
Other fans went as far as creating a petition that called for the early release error to
be reversed, so the number of albums sold would change.
And the petition is almost at its goal of 35,000 signatures.
Now that’s a pretty dedicated and impressive fandom if you ask me!
As of now, Billboard hasn’t responded to the backlash or to Ashton’s video.
But we will continue to update you if they do.
So that's the news I've got for now, but if you’re a true 5SOS fan and want to test
your knowledge on the band, click right over here for another Clevver video.
I'm Emile Ennis Jr and I'll catch you later!