Columbia Records

Over the past decade-plus, few artists have become as much of a creative, cultural and economic force in the entertainment industry at large as Tyler, the Creator. Emerging from the hip-hop-meets-everything collective Odd Future, he has continued to innovate and expand the boundaries of his career each year, whether it be in fashion, festivals or with the type of music he puts out into the world — with plenty of recognition, and accolades, coming his way as a result.
But these past two weeks have topped even that. With the release of his latest album, CHROMAKOPIA — which dropped on Oct. 28, a Monday, bucking the industry norm of Friday — Tyler earned the biggest debut week of his career, with 299,500 equivalent album units earned — even more impressive given that it was achieved in just four days of the tracking week. Now, he’s landed a second straight week atop the Billboard 200, with another 160,000 equivalent album units — his first time spending back-to-back weeks at No. 1 on the albums chart in his career. And that success helps Columbia Records’ vp of marketing Victoria White-Mason earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

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Here, White-Mason discusses the strategy that went into the release — including the much-discussed Monday debut — and how Tyler has been able to grow himself as an artist and a businessman so effectively through the years. “It’s clear that Tyler is truly an artist in every sense of the word, and he extends his taste level and ingenuity into all the verticals he touches,” White-Mason says. “Whether it’s fashion, business or film, he’s going to bring perspective that is shaped by curiosity and an enduring sense of wonder.”

This week, Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA spent its second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after debuting at the spot last week, making it his third chart-topping album. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?

My job as marketing lead was to amplify, scale and make tangible the world of CHROMAKOPIA, which started with the CHROMAKOPIA trucking activation that launched alongside the album announcement. We knew that these shipping containers would be a centerpiece of the overall creative and it sparked the idea to utilize them as moving billboards originating in Tyler, Texas, with pitstops in multiple markets. 

The activation was an ambitious endeavor made possible by an immense amount of collaboration across our teams — from complex routing and logistics to daily social touchpoints alongside the truck’s movements and planning experiential elements for fans along the way. The payoff was clear almost immediately upon launch, as the trucks became a movement builder for us. 

Most notably, Tyler initially released the album on a Monday, instead of the industry standard Friday, meaning he missed out on three days of the chart week in his debut week. How did that affect your rollout strategy? And how important was the first day in your planning?

With a career-best debut, the numbers indicate that Tyler didn’t miss out on much! His intention for a Monday release was for listeners to start their week with CHROMAKOPIA, on their commute to work or school. By encouraging you to listen as a part of your natural routine at the start of the week, the hope is that you become an active listener in the process. 

Of course, shortening the release week is not a natural instinctive idea in today’s market, but it is hard to overstate how remarkable a job Tyler did to create that awareness through visual trailers, touring announcements, live events and more.

At 299,500 equivalent album units, the first week was the biggest of Tyler’s career and the sixth-biggest debut of the year so far. How did you set this up differently from his other projects?

Tyler has always been a first-rate world builder, constantly innovating and transforming, and consistently besting himself in the process. With CHROMAKOPIA, I think we have an album and a campaign that feels almost cumulative in nature. It’s bursting with vulnerability, maturation, peak creative prowess and a pristine level of cohesiveness throughout it all.

CHROMAKOPIA’s success is not an anomaly, it’s the result of all the foundational work he’s done to get to this point. That said, we had a perfect storm of a tapped-in, fully engaged artist, an equally tapped-in and engaged fan base, and an overwhelming desire from fans to be fed. 

With 66,000 vinyl sales in its first week, the album was also the third-biggest hip-hop vinyl album since Luminate began tracking sales in 1991. How did vinyl — and physical product in general, given his six CD boxed sets — play a role in this album campaign?

There’s an obvious and immense demand for physical product for this artist and we were fortunate to be able to make it available immediately thanks to the tireless efforts of our Commerce and Release Planning teams. The partnership between Golf Wang, Ceremony of Roses and Columbia Records is as strong as ever. We took all our learned experience to date from his previous releases and strategized the best way to make the strongest impact. Tyler’s standard of exceptional quality and creative cohesiveness were pivotal in helping to create the demand.

How has Tyler’s career grown and developed outside of just the recorded music to the point where you guys were able to set these benchmarks in just four days of release?

Tyler, the Creator is a genius and a generational talent. I don’t say this lightly, or with the slightest bit of hyperbole, and I think it’s starting to be recognized en masse. His ability to envision and, more importantly, manifest the worlds and characters that live inside his mind is truly unparalleled. It’s clear that Tyler is truly an artist in every sense of the word, and he extends his taste level and ingenuity into all the verticals he touches. Whether it’s fashion, business, or film, he’s going to bring perspective that is shaped by curiosity and an enduring sense of wonder.

The album has already spent a second week at No. 1 now. How do you keep the momentum going from here?

Before I had the opportunity to work with Tyler, I came across an interview he did where he talked about the importance of promoting your work. He told aspiring artists to be proud of the work they made and to never stop being a passionate advocate for your art. Tyler’s conviction and candor always stuck with me and now, years later, it is truly inspiring to witness his commitment to his craft firsthand. 

CHROMAKOPIA’s momentum will continue to be sustained by that commitment. Look at Tyler’s activity in the 11 days since release and you’ll see that he is promoting the work authentically through his connection to his fans. What he’s encouraging is an ongoing conversation around the feelings that this music evokes and the connection that it helps create. On top of that, you have a massive world tour that will continue to expand the world of CHROMAKOPIA.

In a year that’s been dominated by familiar albums and re-releases at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, this week served up a refreshing new No. 1: veteran punk rock band blink-182, which returned with the album One More Time and scored its first placement atop the tally with its original lineup — Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker — since 2001.

The album’s coronation was not a flash-in-the-pan, news cycle nostalgia play. Instead, it was the result of a year-long reunion and rollout plan that included a massive world tour, a string of singles and a behind-the-scenes video series with hundreds of thousands of views that both allowed the band’s original fans to get a glimpse inside the lives of their longtime heroes and brought in new fans drawn to the group’s irreverent humor and oddball visuals. For a group that came of age in the heyday of MTV — and was well-known for its provocative and hilarious music videos — the visual element was a key part of re-engaging that fan base, helping earn Columbia Records senior vp of video production Saul Levitz the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.

Here, Levitz breaks down the content plan behind the group’s big comeback, the nostalgia factor of a beloved band’s reunion, how the visuals reflected the music and more. “We wanted to bring context and emotion to every visual,” Levitz says. “Whether it be the album trailers or music videos, we needed to bring the audience into the cathartic moment that the band was going through.”

This week, blink-182’s One More Time debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the group’s first No. 1 with its original lineup since 2001. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?

We wanted to bring context and emotion to every visual. Whether it be the album trailers or music videos, we needed to bring the audience into the cathartic moment that the band was going through. When Ron [Perry, Columbia chairman/CEO] first sent across the song “One More Time” I cried every time I listened to it and felt the visuals needed to match this place it was taking the listener. Both because the band was processing their own lives with a directness they hadn’t before and also because it’s a universal message that can be applied to any relationship that has gone silent due to ego, mismanagement, or just time letting it slip away.

blink obviously has been around a long time, but it had been years since they released an album. How did you approach the content given that history?

There’s always a pull between nostalgia and making things feel fresh and modern. The modern approach usually wins out because no artist wants to rest on their laurels when rolling out new music. But this time it felt more appropriate because the band was acknowledging their past in a way that confirmed a lot of what the fan base had been thinking in their heads but never heard them say to each other. Never had I seen the fan base live vicariously through each member’s journey. They saw a piece of themselves in Tom, Mark or Travis’s personal journey, so we had to acknowledge that and not make it seem like it didn’t mean anything.

blink’s original incarnation was also at the height of the music-video era, and many of their videos are iconic. How did you balance that track record with bringing in new elements for this project?

Oh man, this is the best part of the job — living up to expectations and a visual history. We literally went inside so many of these iconic music videos for the “One More Time” video so this process was less about living up to those videos and more about celebrating them. There is so much expectation for their videos to be funny and self-aware. The band wanted to push beyond this expectation, though. Their personalities have also evolved so much that as soon as something felt too much like something the old blink-182 would do it stopped feeling fresh. But trust that Tom kept things OG on set with the humor and personality that people remember the band for.

This album also had an extended rollout, with the first single being released a full year before the album. How did that help you develop and roll out the content for it?

Being on the “EDGING” set was a revelation. The band hadn’t played together in forever, and even though they were playing to track there was something so clear about how they all locked in musically together and how their personalities melded together to create this nexus of what the band was. I remember being on set and thinking, “How could these guys ever have not been together?” It seemed so effortless and perfect the way they complemented each other through friendship and music. And Cole Bennett did a tremendous job with the video having the POV of a younger fan who has embraced the band’s legacy and sees their influence on a ton of new artists in genres you wouldn’t expect. It’s rare that you have a gap this long between a first single and then the album, but it certainly made us realize early the power the band had in this trinity coming together.

In a way, this entire project could be seen as a throwback: an extended rollout strategy, big radio singles, a major tour around the world and a beloved rock band topping the charts. What’s the significance of that in this era of the music industry, when things are often on much tighter timelines and rock rarely reaches No. 1?

I attribute the success as much to the music just being f—ing great and everyone seeing a part of themselves in the journey of these three individuals that come together and put aside their differences and find that spark again that made them special and unique and beloved. It was amazing to have the amount of time needed to get everything right, and that is rare nowadays, but without those other elements being in place the time is irrelevant. This album is less about the story of rock returning and more about how the audience can see themselves within artists that share so much of themselves and their journey. If you can make them cry, you’ve got something.