How Ariana Grande's 'Eternal Sunshine' Reissue Pushed It Back to No. 1

For the third time — and within the second totally different calendar yr — Ariana Grande’s Everlasting Sunshine tops the Billboard 200 this week.

The album, which initially debuted atop the chart dated Mar. 23, 2024 and spent two weeks at No. 1, returns to the apex with 137,000 models moved, in keeping with Luminate. The album’s resurgence comes following the discharge of its Brighter Days Forward deluxe version, which boasts six bonus tracks — all of which seem on this week’s Billboard Sizzling 100, led by “Twilight Zone” at No. 18 — and comes with a brief sci-fi movie of the identical title, starring Grande and her father, Edward Butera.

Do we expect the industrial response validates the comparatively prolonged weight for the deluxe version? And what can we make of this mini-movie? Billboard staffers talk about these questions and extra beneath.

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1. Everlasting Sunshine returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week — a yr after topping it the primary time — with 137,000 models moved, following the discharge of the set’s Brighter Days Forward version. Is that efficiency higher than, worse than, or about what you’d have anticipated?

Hannah Dailey: Total, I’d say that it’s even higher than I anticipated for a deluxe version launched a full yr after the unique – however I did anticipate the deluxe doing effectively normally. I believe lots of people actually underestimate simply how cherished this album is. I’m definitely not shocked that there’s nonetheless a lot curiosity in all of it this time later!

Kyle Denis: Significantly better. I assumed the album would return to the underside half of the highest 10 – particularly as a result of there’s no present radio single from the usual model and “Twilight Zone” didn’t precisely explode upon launch – however to tug a six-figure complete and return to No. 1 over a behemoth of a Playboi Carti album and Lil Durk’s newest set is wonderful.

Lyndsey Havens: What I’d anticipate. Ariana is a constant chart-topper at this level, and the one factor I wouldn’t see coming is that if Brighter Days Forward fell wanting the tally’s prime spot. And the factor I really like about this specific feat is that it wasn’t a curiosity rebound, that means I don’t get the sense folks listened solely out of curiosity after which moved on. The songs on this deluxe are that good — and if Everlasting Sunshine didn’t inform such a tightly knit story, they may have simply arrived then. However that’s what I really like most about this deluxe; it arrived when the tales in these songs wanted to be advised, and when Ari was prepared to inform them.

Jason Lipshutz: Higher. Deluxe editions of main albums usually don’t arrive one yr after the unique album’s launch, and contemplating how a lot of Ariana Grande’s focus has been on Depraved (and the upcoming Depraved: For Good), it’d be straightforward to surmise that she and her followers had moved on from Everlasting Sunshine. So the truth that these deluxe tracks arrived much less like a belated thank-you and extra just like the completion of a beloved challenge, with a six-figure equal album models complete and a return to the highest of the Billboard 200, represents a serious win for Grande, on an event that she might have dismissed as minor.

Andrew Unterberger: Undoubtedly higher. This deluxe got here a very long time after the unique album, and it feels it — since a lot else occurred within the interim, each in Grande’s profession and pop music normally. To nonetheless have sufficient in curiosity in you and your most up-to-date challenge to chart a half-dozen new songs on the Sizzling 100 (and none that low), whereas transferring six digits’ price of album models, ought to all really feel fairly validating for Grande.

2. A yr is a very long time in 2025 to attend to launch a correct deluxe version of successful album. Do you suppose it has confirmed a wise technique for Grande, or ought to she have include it slightly sooner?

Hannah Dailey: I’d often say a yr is an egregiously very long time to attend between an album and deluxe, however on this particular case, I believe the space was to Grande’s profit. To begin with, a whole lot of the large pop releases that got here after Everlasting Sunshine in 2024 sort of overshadowed the album and pushed it out of most people’s consciousness a bit; ready this lengthy to drop the deluxe gave it greater than sufficient area from these different releases to completely stand out and have a second likelihood at being a quintessential pop second of 2025, if not 2024. Second, it was good to have a breather from all of the Depraved craziness earlier than Everlasting Sunshine Half 2. It gave us a little bit of time to overlook Grande earlier than she did anything and re-orient our brains again to considering of her as in pop star mode, not Glinda mode.

Kyle Denis: I believe it’s completely confirmed right. She was risking critical overexposure if she launched a deluxe version with six new songs and a film whereas she was nonetheless knee-deep in Depraved press. The usual model obtained ample time to shine, and the deluxe now has a number of months – earlier than Depraved: For Good press ramps up – to itself. It additionally helps that Grande put out a “barely deluxe” model of the album in between its preliminary launch and Brighter Days Forward, so her Everlasting Sunshine rollout has been meticulously plotted to keep away from having an excessive amount of Ari at one time.

Lyndsey Havens: I’m genuinely curious how a lot of it was strategic and the way a lot of it was primary logistics and/or instinct. Since Everlasting Sunshine has arrived, Ariana has largely been in Depraved promo mode. For the deluxe to reach after awards season makes good sense on paper. However what might make much more sense is that Ariana might have nonetheless been residing in or caught on the tales behind these songs, and all they wanted was a bit extra time and area. Both method, I’d love if this apply is adopted extra. Take SZA’s Lana, for instance: Was it a stretch to name it a deluxe? Certain. However was it good to have some area in between initiatives? I believe so. And on the finish of the day, I believe the perfect technique is releasing one thing when the artist feels it’s prepared — as a result of that’s when it can probably hit the toughest.

Jason Lipshutz: Six months in the past, I’d have stated the latter… however because it seems, Grande was good to roll out these songs following Depraved marketing campaign. A months-long awards tour made it inconceivable for Grande to concentrate on Brighter Days Forward promotion, so if these songs had arrived in late 2024 or early 2025, there probably would have landed as extra of an afterthought throughout a busy time. And as a substitute of serving them up a month or two after Everlasting Sunshine’s launch, Grande let the usual version stand by itself — and “We Can’t Be Pals (Wait For Your Love)” develop into one in all her most enduring hits — earlier than giving these deluxe tracks their very own second. A novel technique for distinctive circumstances, however she pulled it off expertly.

Andrew Unterberger: I believe it’s proving fairly good. Intuitively I’d’ve stated it was slightly late, however most deluxe initiatives come so early as of late — generally simply days, if not mere hours — after their originals that Grande really giving some actual respiration room between the 2 is one thing I’m extra grateful for than I’d have anticipated. (The songs being good additionally definitely helps!)

3. “Twilight Zone” is the clear chief of the brand new tracks from the reissue on the Sizzling 100 this week, debuting at No. 18. Does it really feel like a long-lasting hit to you, or will it fall as soon as the reissue’s early momentum wears off?

Hannah Dailey: It undoubtedly seems like successful to me, and I really like the way it provides to the narrative of the remainder of the album. I predict that it’ll be a gradual grower – it’s not the splashiest-sounding pop track, nevertheless it’s one which’s been getting randomly caught in my head repeatedly ever because it got here out, and I’m guessing I’m not the one one. I believe that individuals will proceed to maintain coming again to it increasingly more over the subsequent few weeks.

Kyle Denis: I believe it is dependent upon how a lot Grande is prepared to do for the track. If it will get a standalone video and a few sort of reside efficiency, I can see “Twilight Zone” sticking across the charts as a cute springtime hit. If she lets these songs sit and shifts her focus again to Depraved, I anticipate “Twilight Zone” falling a bit quicker than the common Grande single.

Lyndsey Havens: What’s loopy to me is whereas all 5 of the brand new tracks compete for the title of my favourite, “Twilight Zone” doesn’t usually lead the record. It’s virtually like every new track is healthier than the final, as I cherished “Heat” however then “Dandelion” (the horn!) into “Previous Life” into “Hampstead” is simply an unimaginable run. However I do suppose “Twilight Zone” is essentially the most sonically linked to Everlasting Sunshine, which is why it was the right observe to open the deluxe — and possibly why it’s connecting essentially the most proper now.

Jason Lipshutz: I believe “Twilight Zone” is definitely in for a fairly prolonged run, primarily based on three issues: the standard of the track, Grande’s established presence at prime 40, and the truth that no new non-Depraved music is on the horizon. “Twilight Zone” travels down the identical cozy synth-n-B path as “We Can’t Be Pals,” and streaming playlist curators and radio programmers ought to embrace it fairly shortly; the Depraved For Good marketing campaign will dominate Grande’s focus throughout the second half of the yr, so even when Everlasting Sunshine tumbles again down the Billboard 200, this track will stand as her conventional pop bid within the months main as much as the movie.

Andrew Unterberger: It does really feel like successful to me, however I’m unsure that it really shall be. High 40 is simply embracing so few new songs from anybody as of late — even from confirmed hitmakers like Grande — and I’m unsure if the format will reduce into its Benson Boone or Gracie Abrams spins for this deluxe version track, particularly if Grande isn’t actually gonna push it herself. I hope it does, although — or that it finds footing sufficient on streaming to be a long-lasting hit there — as a result of it definitely does should have that sort of endurance.

4. Along with the brand new songs, Brighter Days Forward comes with an accompanying brief movie of the identical title, that includes most of the album’s tracks. Does the mini-film add a lot to the album period/expertise to you?

Hannah Dailey: Actually, the brief movie didn’t do a lot for me by the use of enhancing the album. I extra simply like to see Grande marrying her loves for music and appearing in a method that clearly makes her really feel actually fulfilled creatively, and normally it was good to have one thing further to finish the Everlasting Sunshine period on a grander word.

Kyle Denis: In some methods, sure. Longtime Grande followers are very conscious of how rocky her relationship along with her father has been all through her profession, so to see him make a cameo within the movie because the physician who makes use of music to place her again collectively after the press tore her to shreds… that was an unbelievably stunning full-circle second. Brighter Days Forward can be simply the strongest distillation of Grande’s artistic pysche that she’s provided thus far; her beloved horror parts are on full show, and the movie’s throughlines assist emphasize the message of Everlasting Sunshine and flaunt her dramatic appearing expertise. Whereas the pacing was a bit clunky, the brief movie solely leaves me extra excited to see the place Grande (and Christian Breslauer, or maybe a unique collaborator?) goes subsequent visually.

Lyndsey Havens: Solely within the sense that it’s an incredible metric for followers to know that on this case, much like what I stated above, this deluxe isn’t essentially a strategic play. Creating and delivering a brief movie to accompany these new tracks solely proves how a lot of a narrative is baked into them, and the way moved Ariana felt to not solely inform that story, however carry her followers into it, in additional methods than one.

Jason Lipshutz: The brief movie provides a compelling visible ingredient to the Everlasting Sunshine deluxe version, however in the end, “Twilight Zone” transcends the better context round it, identical to prior Sizzling 100 chart-toppers “Sure And” and “We Can’t Be Pals.” Grande has hung out over the previous eight years re-positioning herself as a standard albums artist after breaking via with a string of hit singles starting in 2013… however full-length statements like Thank U, Subsequent, Positions and Everlasting Sunshine nonetheless include these hits, and her newest album is outlined by these radio-ready standout moments. If the brief movie higher exemplifies the tone of Everlasting Sunshine, Grande’s newest chart hit prolongs the period with extra highly effective industrial intent.

Andrew Unterberger: I can’t be mad at any music video with actual ambition (and an actual funds!) in 2025.

5. Has your relationship with or view of Everlasting Sunshine modified any over the previous yr from when it was launched?

Hannah Dailey: I cherished Everlasting Sunshine on my very first play-through, and I’ve cherished it (and listened to it on, at minimal, a weekly foundation) ever since. To me, it nonetheless represents Grande in a spot of full artistic liberation – you possibly can hear that she made these songs, each authentic and deluxe, not as a result of she needed to, however just because she had music and phrases within her that desperately wanted to return out within the studio. If something, I’ve come to just accept extra since its launch that this might very probably be the final album we get from her in a very long time as she shifts her focus to appearing, which makes listening to it slightly extra bittersweet.

Kyle Denis: I already cherished it upon launch, and I’ve solely grown to understand it extra. Everlasting Sunshine is now formally my favourite Ari album. She’s actually settled into post-Imogen Heap/Brandy lane that fits her damn-near completely.

Lyndsey Havens: Hm, not likely. I believe one other good thing about releasing a deluxe so lengthy after the album itself is that it could actually reignite curiosity. Whereas I listened to Everlasting Sunshine on loop for months after it got here out, naturally that fades with time and with increasingly more new music all the time incoming. So, whereas my love for the album by no means waned, this deluxe has solely helped strengthen my relationship with it as soon as once more. And now, maybe sadly for me, it’s solely left me wanting much more.

Jason Lipshutz: Undoubtedly — after beforehand contemplating Everlasting Sunshine a mid-tier Grande challenge, the album’s emotional maturity has resonated with me in a transparent method within the months following its launch. The Brighter Days Forward songs have underlined the general challenge’s tone and function — so, chart efficiency apart, the deluxe version has been an unequivocal success.

Andrew Unterberger: Probably not, however I do have extra of a perception now that it’s going to go down as a traditional album and a serious a part of her legacy.

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