Sam Smith's decade-long winning streak has come to a bruising end. The five-time Grammy winner's new album, Hazel Eyes, failed to appear anywhere on the Billboard 200-an astonishing reversal for an artist whose previous four studio albums all reached the Top 10.
Released on August 21, Hazel Eyes did manage to appear on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart, becoming the week's sixth-highest-selling new studio album. But those modest purchases were not enough to overcome the project's weak streaming performance and carry it onto America's main albums chart. That Grape Juice first highlighted the album's startling absence.
That distinction is important. The Top Album Sales chart counts physical and digital purchases, while the Billboard 200 combines traditional sales with streaming and track-equivalent activity. In other words, Smith's remaining loyalists may have bought Hazel Eyes, but the wider listening public apparently was not streaming it in sufficient numbers.
The result ends a remarkable run that began with Smith's 2014 blockbuster In the Lonely Hour. Even 2023's Gloria, released amid fierce controversy over Smith's increasingly provocative image, opened at No. 7 with the assistance of the chart-topping Kim Petras collaboration "Unholy."
Hazel Eyes arrived without that kind of blockbuster. Despite being promoted through several songs-including "When He's Gone," "My Guy," "Oh Mother," "Constant Companion" and "To Be Free"-the album became Smith's first studio project to arrive without an accompanying Billboard Hot 100 hit. Apparently, plenty of singles do not guarantee that any one of them will actually connect.
Smith is not alone in receiving a cold shoulder from American listeners. Lizzo suffered an even more humiliating chart shock in June when her comeback album, Bitch, also failed to crack the Billboard 200.
The fall was dramatic. Lizzo's previous album, Special, debuted at No. 2 in 2022, while Cuz I Love You reached No. 4 and transformed her into one of pop music's loudest personalities. But Bitch reportedly sold only 2,650 copies during its opening week and scraped onto the Top Album Sales chart at No. 46-its only Billboard appearance. Forbes reported that it missed the Billboard 200, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Top Rap Albums and Top Streaming Albums charts.
Lizzo later admitted that watching the album struggle was "soul-crushing." Its disastrous arrival followed years of controversy surrounding lawsuits filed by former dancers, whose allegations Lizzo has disputed. Whatever the precise cause, her chart collapse proved that Grammy trophies, viral hits and a once-dominant public persona cannot guarantee that audiences will return for the next era.
Country-turned-pop singer Maren Morris experienced a similar humiliation with 2025's Dreamsicle. Her previous studio albums had reached Nos. 5, 4 and 21 on the Billboard 200, but Dreamsicle missed the chart completely. It also failed to appear on the Top Country Albums chart, once Morris' most reliable territory. Morris acknowledged that she needed to adapt to the new realities of marketing, streaming and social media.
Afrobeats superstar Davido and rapper Tyga have also released recent projects that reportedly failed to reach the Billboard 200. Together, these disappointments reveal a brutal new reality: fame, social-media followers and name recognition are no longer enough to secure even the lowest position on a 200-place chart.
Smith has spoken about redefining success and making a more intimate, personal album rather than chasing obvious commercial trends. That may offer some comfort, but the numbers remain difficult to ignore. Going from four consecutive Top 10 albums to missing the entire Billboard 200 is not merely a disappointing debut-it is a commercial cliff dive.
The question now is whether Hazel Eyes will slowly find an audience or whether it marks the moment mainstream listeners finally moved on from Sam Smith. Lizzo and Maren Morris are undoubtedly wondering the same thing about their own careers.
