Sabrina Carpenter’s Musical Journey: Key Career Highlights and Timeline

Sabrina Carpenter is a highly acclaimed pop artist, and her chart-topping hits underscore her success. Her latest single, Espresso, has been dubbed the Song of the Summer and climbed to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 shortly after its release. By August 6, 2024, it achieved a remarkable milestone of one billion streams on Spotify, marking it as the third-fastest song to reach this achievement. At just 25 years old, Carpenter has transitioned from a Disney child star with Hollywood Records to a record-breaking artist.

She made history by becoming the first female artist to hold both the first and second positions on the UK Singles chart for three consecutive weeks with her smash hits, Espresso and Please Please Please. Recently, she claimed the prestigious MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year.

Exploring Sabrina Carpenter’s Musical Journey from Disney to Billboard Dominance

1) 2014 to 2016: Early Ventures with Hollywood Records, Awards, and an Evolving Tour

Sabrina Carpenter initiated her career on the Disney Channel hit series, Girl Meets World, which aired from 2014 to 2017. She signed with Disney-owned Hollywood Records and released her debut single, Can’t Blame a Girl For Trying, in 2014.

This track served as the lead single from her first EP of the same name.

“Here I am again, the same old situation/ Why does the guy thing have to be so complicated?/ I should’ve played it cool, instead, I made a fool/ Oh, the things I do.”

The song secured the Radio Disney Music Award for Best Crush Song in 2015. In the same year, she released her first Christmas single, Silver Nights.

She followed her initial EP with her debut studio album, Eyes Wide Open, in 2015. This pop record featured 12 tracks, including the title track, We’ll Be Stars, and Two Young Hearts. The album debuted at number 43 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number 31 on the U.S. Billboard Top Album Sales Chart.

In August 2015, Carpenter performed at the D23 Expo and released her second Christmas single, Christmas The Whole Year Round, in December of that year.

February 2016 saw the release of a standalone single, Smoke and Fire, which garnered positive feedback and sold over 6,000 digital copies in its opening week.

In October of that same year, Carpenter released her second studio album, Evolution, which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard 200.

This album outperformed her previous one, with two tracks, On Purpose and Thumbs, earning nominations for Radio Disney Music Awards and peaking at number one on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, respectively.

Later in 2016, Carpenter launched her first tour, the Evolution Tour, to support the album, running from October 2016 to May 2017, covering cities like Nashville, Dallas, Denver, and Omaha in North America, and Glasgow, Cologne, and Milan in Europe.

2) 2017 to 2020: The De-Tour, Notable Features, Singular Act Tour, and Forbes Recognition

In May 2017, Sabrina Carpenter collaborated with The Vamps and Mike Perry on the track, Hands. She released another single, Why, in July that year.

This dark pop track earned positive reviews, peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Bubbling Hot 100 and becoming her second entry on that chart after Thumbs. Carpenter also kicked off her second tour, The De-Tour, starting in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 2017 and wrapping up in Toronto, Ontario, in August 2017.

Additionally, Carpenter opened for the Sao Paulo concert of Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman Tour in July 2017.

She released a cover of the holiday classic, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, in December 2017, along with other covers—Sign of the Times with Jasmine Thompson and You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch featuring violinist Lindsey Stirling.

In March 2018, Carpenter collaborated with English DJ, Jonas Blue, on the track Alien, which peaked at number one on the U.S. Dance/Electronic Songs chart. The following May, she was featured in Nylon Magazine as one of the 25 Gen Z’ers Changing The World. Her third studio album, Singular: Act I, released in November 2018, contained singles Almost Love and Sue Me, both reaching number one on the U.S. Dance Club Songs chart.

In March 2019, Carpenter launched her third tour, the Singular Tour, promoting both Singular Act I and its follow-up, Singular Act II, which arrived in July 2019. The tour kicked off in Orlando, Florida, and concluded in Singapore in April 2019.

She released a R&B single titled Honeymoon Fades in February 2020. In July 2020, she contributed the track Let Me Move You to the Netflix film Work It, and in December, she was honored in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for Hollywood and Entertainment.

3) 2021 to 2024: Island Records Deal, Emails I Can’t Send Tour, and Back-to-Back Hits

In January 2021, Sabrina Carpenter signed with Universal Music’s Island Records and released her first track under the label, Skin, which debuted at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking her first entry on that chart. The track also achieved top 40 status on the Billboard 200, another first for Carpenter.

In September 2021, she released Skinny Dipping, the lead single from her fifth studio album, Emails I Can’t Send. She followed with another single, Fast Times, in February 2022, ahead of the full album release later that year.

Upon its drop, Emails I Can’t Send reached number 23 on the Billboard 200. One of its tracks, Nonsense, peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100, hit the top ten on the U.S. Pop Airplay chart, and achieved platinum certification from the RIAA.

Carpenter’s fourth headlining tour, Emails I Can’t Send Tour, commenced in September 2022 in Atlanta and concluded in August 2023 in Chicago. A bonus track, Feathers, was released in August 2023 and debuted at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top position on the U.S. Pop Songs chart.

In 2023, Carpenter also joined Taylor Swift as the opening act for her Eras Tour in various cities, including Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Melbourne, and Singapore from August 2023 to March 2024.

In November 2023, she released the Christmas EP, Fruitcake, featuring tracks like A Nonsense Christmas and Buy Me Presents. By March 2024, Carpenter was featured on You Need Me Now?, a pop track by Norwegian singer-songwriter Girl in Red, which peaked at number 40 on the U.S. Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.

A month later, she launched her viral hit, Espresso, and performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 12, 2024. Espresso topped the Billboard Global 200, peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and won the MTV VMA for Song of the Year.

The single Please Please Please was released in June 2024, becoming Carpenter’s second Global 200 chart-topper and her first Billboard Hot 100 topper.

Following her string of back-to-back hits, Carpenter released her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album’s third single, Taste, was released simultaneously with Short n’ Sweet and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This achievement makes Carpenter the first act since The Beatles to have their first three top-five hits in the U.S. in the same week and the third female artist to have three top-five songs simultaneously.

Carpenter performed What A Girl Wants alongside Christina Aguilera for the latter’s Spotify-exclusive 25th Anniversary special in September 2024.

In a January 2024 interview with Who What Wear, Sabrina Carpenter discussed her journey to express herself authentically through her music:

“When you’re worried about [music] appealing to people and making sure that everyone likes it, I don’t know if you make anything that feels authentic.”

Sabrina Carpenter is currently on her Short n’ Sweet Tour to promote her album of the same name, which began in September 2024 in Columbus, Ohio, and is set to conclude in March 2025 in Milan, Italy.

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