‘SHE SO MOTHER FOR THAT’: Don’t tell Swifties, but Sabrina Carpenter just did something only one other musical group has ever done before

Sabrina Carpenter is enjoying a caffeine-induced buzz (thanks, “Espresso”) fresh off the release of Short N’ Sweet, with the album ascending the Billboard charts and assuming a record only held by The Beatles. 

She might be short (five feet, to be exact), but Carpenter’s ascent has been mighty. Upon the release of the extremely tongue-in-cheek album, which arrived on Aug. 23 and marked Carpenter’s sixth overall, a whopping three songs made their way into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. 

“Taste”, the promotional single that was accompanied by a music video with Jenna Ortega, debuted at number two on the chart, while the Barry Keoghan-referencing “Please Please Please” came in at number three. Meanwhile, “Espresso” — the inescapable hit that’s had me visiting my cafe ever since it dropped — has maintained its dominance, placing fourth on the Billboard chart. 

The impressive chart milestone means Carpenter is now the second music act, and first solo musician, to ever have their first top five hits within the top five of the charts simultaneously. That reads like a bit of a gibberish crossword, but it essentially means Carpenter has had first-ever songs placed within the top five of the charts, and they also happen to be charting there at the same time. 

The Beatles, who are admittedly taller (like, 10 Carpenter’s combined) and had more manpower, achieved the same feat back in 1964. At that time, which also marked their breakout year, the iconic band’s songs “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You” and “Please Please Me” placed at numbers one, two and four on the Billboard charts, respectively. Maybe there’s a secret formula for chart success for songs with multiple mentions of “Please”.

It’s an achievement that not even Carpenter’s mentor, Taylor Swift, was able to surmount with her latest album The Tortured Poets Department — a fact pointed out by fans online. Swift, who enlisted Carpenter as the opening act on her seemingly never-ending Eras Tour, managed to only nab two spots on the charts for her album, with “Fortnight” and “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” placing at number one and number five, respectively. 

“Taylor couldn’t do this with all of her deluxe, re-releases, and versions,” one user wrote of Carpenter’s record, referencing Swift’s consistent variant-dropping. “SHE SO MOTHER FOR THAT,” another person added, in a tone and cadence that can only be read as a high-pitched fangirl. Swift has her Swifties, and Carpenter fans are simply called Carpenters.

While that conjures more an image of tool belts and greasy hands than it does of a pocket-sized pop star, I guess it rings true, since Carpenters built up their star to ascend the Billboard ladder. Consider me a Carpenter.