Lizzo‘s new album ‘Bitch’ has failed to crack the top 100 charts in both the UK and the US.
- READ MORE: Lizzo – ‘Special’ review: joyful superstar uplifts with self-assured, self-empowering bops
The Grammy-winning singer released her fifth studio effort two weeks ago, on June 5. She had previewed the collection with the single ‘Don’t Make Me Love U’ and the title track.
However, ‘Bitch’ hasn’t managed to enter the Billboard 200 in the US. It doesn’t appear in the UK top 100, either. On the UK’s official album downloads chart, the LP currently sits in the Number 83 position.
Lizzo’s previous album, ‘Special’ peaked at Number Two on the US albums chart in 2022, and reached Number Six in the UK.
‘Special’ features the song ‘About Damn Time’ – which hit Number One on the US Billboard Hot 100, and Number Three on the UK’s Official Singles Chart. ‘Special’ single ‘2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)’ also earned Lizzo a spot on the UK top 20.
She entered the UK top 20 in 2021, too, with ‘Rumors’ (featuring Cardi B). She achieved a top 10 hit on these shores in 2019 with ‘Good As Hell’, and again in 2022 with ‘Someday At Christmas’.
Lizzo’s major-label debut ‘Cuz I Love You’ – her third album overall – peaked at Number Four in the US, and Number 30 in the UK. Her hit track ‘Truth Hurts’ reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, and just this week it bagged diamond status in the States.
On review aggregator website Metacritic, ‘Bitch’ currently holds a middling 50 per cent score, based on seven reviews.
Rolling Stone opined: “‘Bitch’ is full of tired moves and cynical appeals to the streaming algorithm.” Elsewhere, The Telegraph wrote that the album was “in desperate search of a hit”. The Guardian, meanwhile, said Lizzo’s “scatter-gun approach makes ‘Bitch’ a disjointed listen”.
Shortly after releasing ‘Bitch’, Lizzo responded to claims that she no longer has a fanbase. This follows the huge success of her previous LP and subsequent arena tour (including two sold-out shows at London’s O2), as well as a massive Pyramid Stage slot at Glastonbury 2023.
“I actually can answer this: the industry changed so much in the last 3 yrs,” she wrote. “Streaming replaced radio & I was a radio darling. That’s how my fans discovered my music. Not to mention the very obvious & public attack on my career changed things.
“But I’m out here doing my absolute best and u can’t knock a bitch for that.”
I actually can answer this: the industry changed so much in the last 3 yrs. streaming replaced radio & I was a radio darling. That’s how my fans discovered my music. Not to mention the very obvious & public attack on my career changed things.
But I’m out here doing my absolute…
— LIZZO (@lizzo) June 7, 2026
Lizzo had previously hit out at the “racist” and “fatphobic” algorithms for “destroying the music industry” and hampering her album promotion.
“Back in the day, which was maybe even just five years ago, we used to get things chronologically,” she wrote.
“Music marketing relies heavily on social media, but now, ever since the algorithm has been showing us things out of order, there’s actually no way to successfully promote an album where everyone knows your album is coming.”
The TikTok post was captioned: “Don’t get me started on how the algorithm is racist & fat phobic.”
Lizzo failing to crack the charts in the US and the UK could perhaps be a result of controversies surrounding the artist in recent years.
A lawsuit was filed against Lizzo in 2023 by Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, who made allegations of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment during their time working with the singer between 2021 and 2023.
Lizzo has denied all of the allegations. She recently vowed to keep fighting the lawsuit brought by her three former backup dancers, claiming that “the truth is less salacious than the headlines”.
In October 2023, Lizzo described the suit as a “fabricated sob story” and filed her own motion asking the court to dismiss it, alleging that the dancers had shown a “pattern of gross misconduct”.
Last month, Lizzo acknowledged her new social media promo strategy surrounding ‘Bitch’, saying she’d been “interacting with a bunch of stan accounts lately”. She retweeted a post about how she was “actually succeeding in getting people to talk about her again”.
But the star ended up telling fans to “grow up” after they accused her of throwing shade at Taylor Swift. Lizzo insisted that she’d “never talked shit about any artist”, and denied bad-mouthing Olivia Rodrigo.
In other news, Lizzo appears to have addressed criticism from Nicki Minaj on the alternate edition of ‘Bitch’.
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