Swift
Courtesy of GabboT (Flickr CC0)
Taylor Swift has done it again. The singer’s new album “Lover” has sold 1.05 million copies in its first week of release, making her the first female artist to have four albums sell more than a million copies in the first week. She’s also the second artist ever to achieve this milestone.

The first was the boy band One Direction. Their album Midnight Memories was released in 2014, and it sold 1.232 million copies in its first week.

Swift Stands Out

It’s not just sales that make Swift stand out though, she’s also the fifth artist to have a fourth album debut at number one after Prince, Eminem, 50 Cent, and Britney Spears. It took Swift less time than any other artist in history to reach one million weekly sales with an album released on streaming services like Spotify (just over two months). But unlike many artists who release all their songs on these platforms at once, Swift only released one song from her new record before releasing it physically today. The song she released was “ME!”

Swift’s album Reputation sold 1.216 million copies in its first week (and it has been out for only three days). The album has been successful so far and many people are saying she is going to break sales records again this week with her new single “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Many may know her as the country singer who has been breaking records in recent years. She’s not just the first artist to have four albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart but she is also the fifth musician of any genre, ever, to do so.

It All Started

It started with her latest album Lover. Swift took over with that release and broke records left and right by making it clear that she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Of course, this isn’t surprising considering that she has sold almost 100 million albums worldwide since 2009. That is the year when Fearless was released.

This is the second time in history that an artist has achieved this milestone, with Whitney Houston being the first. Taylor Swift’s last album was released in 2014 and she just released her latest, Reputation, on November 10.

Houston’s last studio album came out in 2002 before she died at 48 years old of a heart attack following years of drug abuse.

Making History with Swift

Swift’s streaming strategy signals a change in the industry. Unlike many artists who release all their songs on streaming services like Spotify at once, she released only one song from her new album.

The young musician is the first artist to achieve this type of “windowing” (music industry parlance for releasing music). Fans will have to wait until November 10 to listen to more than just “Look What You Made Me Do” on Spotify or other streaming platforms.

The move is risky because it forces consumers to commit immediately to buying an album. One whose entire tracklist hasn’t been revealed yet. However, given Swift’s massive popularity and continued success with each new single she releases, her strategy may end up being a success for her and other musicians looking to break into new markets through live performance alone.

Swift’s album is an important milestone for the music industry. If you have been following her career, you know that she has always stuck to her guns and never compromised on anything. The fact that she was able to pull off this feat shows how much power she has in the industry right now.

Written by Sheena Robertson

Sources:

Billboard: Taylor Swift Makes History as First Artist With Entire Top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, Led by ‘Anti-Hero’ at No. 1
Yahoo!: Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ Sees Mammoth Sales, Scores Biggest Debut Week Since Adele’s ‘25’

Top and Featured Image Courtesy of GabboT‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

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