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With his last two albums, it feels like Tyler, The Creator is trying to play the role of Tyler, The Disruptor. He notably released Chromakopia on a Tuesday, foregoing the now-traditional New Music Friday release in favor of doing it the old way. In exchange, he gave up several chart counting days’ worth of streams, yet still debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. His latest release, Don’t Tap The Glass\, was similarly released on an off-day, but achieved the same accomplished as its predecessor, topping the chart in its first week of availability.
Despite discounting Friday, Saturday, and Sunday streams, Don’t Tap The Glass garnered an impressive 197,000 equivalent album units earned since its off-cycle release, with 128,000 of those coming from physical sales. Meanwhile, Don’t Tap The Glass is Tyler’s fourth No. 1 release, following 2019’s Igor, 2021’s Call Me If You Get Lost, and of course, Chromakopia. Uproxx has long advocated for a return to New Music Tuesdays, which could help cut down on some of the Friday-related clutter, and Tyler is certainly helping to make that case , despite his unusual status as cultural touchpoint in a fractured musical landscape. Maybe there’s no going back at this point, but it definitely feels like Tyler is going to keep pushing for it anyway.
