Thirty-five thousand five hundred units. That is what Tinashe’s Popstar earned in its first week, good for No. 6 on the Billboard 200 on the chart dated October 10. Of those, 22,000 were pure sales. It is the biggest sales week of her career and her first top-ten album in the United States.
The Numbers Behind the Debut
The sales figure was helped along by fans. Several versions of the album, including an instrumental, an a cappella and a bonus edition with DJ flips and an extended “Too Easy,” were sent out mid-tracking week. Atlantic executive Brandon Davis said buying on iTunes and posting the screenshot became “a badge of honor,” and noted that “people are moving real volume” there.
Streaming moved too. A 9.0 from Pitchfork on September 30 sent interest up: Popstar drew 3.5 million official U.S. on-demand streams across September 28 and 29, then over 5.2 million between September 30 and October 1, a jump of 48%.
It is a sharp turn for a run of independent albums, Songs for You (2019), 333 (2021) and BB/Ang3l (2023), none of which cracked the top 100. Her RCA-era records, Nightride (2016) and Joyride (2018), peaked at No. 89 and No. 58.
A Label Partnership Built Slowly
Tinashe left RCA and regained creative control in 2019. Producer Ricky Reed, founder of Nice Life Recording Company, said Songs for You “was a big deal in our label offices.” Their first meeting was rocky, since she was understandably wary of a new partner, but over a few studio sessions they hit what Reed called a white-hot creative flow. She officially joined his Atlantic imprint in July 2023.
The hits followed. “Nasty” peaked at No. 61 on the Hot 100, her first appearance there since “2 On” a decade earlier. The Disco Lines remix of “No Broke Boys” became her third Hot 100 entry, at No. 36. Charli xcx put her on the Brat remix album, which Davis said changed how he saw her.
Making Popstar took about a year. The first song written was the title track. The bulk came together last winter, when she spent two weeks over the holidays with her brother Thulani Kachingwe and engineer Ike Schultz and made ten of the album’s 16 songs. Before presenting it to Atlantic in January, she and Reed built a 17-minute megamix. Davis recalled that the room turned into a club, and the label asked to hear it twice.
The Sound
Popstar mixes R&B, pop and alternative, and leans on minimalism even when the producers swing for maximalism. Reed said the early sessions aimed for the most avant-garde tracks possible, yet “I’d Rather Be Alone” was the only one she wrote to. The sound goes back to her early mixtapes, where she developed her bedroom pop-meets-alternative-meets-dance-meets-R&B style.
The peers noticed. Charli xcx brought her out during her Austin City Limits set, where “Nobody Wanna Dance Anymore” and “Melatonin” made their live debuts. Clairo called “Crash Out” her song of the summer, and Tove Lo named “Melatonin” her pre-show hype track.
“I’ve never created my art to fit the charts or chased success in that way,” Tinashe said. Going from mentally unsubscribing from all that to “finally kissing the top 10” is, in her words, a big dream come true. She is 33.
On the Road
She has announced a spring 2027 tour behind the album, beginning with three Texas dates in April and ending a month later in California. Before the year ends she will play victory-lap shows in Brooklyn on October 24 and Los Angeles on November 7. She will also open two dates on Harry Styles’ tour next spring.
Sources
- Tinashe & Key ‘Popstar’ Collaborators Go Behind the Scenes of Her Career-Defining Opus: ‘We Have to F—k People Up Beyond Repair With This Music’
- Tinashe
- Tinashe Is Touring in 2027
Photo: Pia McCoy (CC BY 2.0)
