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Taylor Swift continues to dominate the week following the release of her 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” The 31-track album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, tying Swift with Jay-Z for second for No. 1 albums with 14. Only the Beatles, with 19 No. 1 albums, have had more.
The double album has accumulated 2.61 million equivalent album units, according to Luminate, the industry data and analytics company. A shocking 1.91 million of those units come from traditional album sales – people buying downloads, CDs, cassettes and vinyl. Vinyl accounts for 859,000 units sold, the largest number of vinyl sales in modern history.
It is the best-selling album of 2024, eclipsing Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” which sold 228,000 copies. (But streaming has been a boon: “Cowboy Carter” reached 407,000 equivalent album units, a combination of pure album sales and on-demand streams, earned in the U.S. in its first week. )
“The Tortured Poets Department” reached 891.34 million album streams, according to Luminate, the largest streaming week for an album in history.
She broke the highest single-week mark for an album, surpassing Drake’s 25-track “Scorpion” with 745.92 million in 2018, his 21-track “Certified Lover Boy” with 743.67 million in 2021, and his own “Midnights” in 2022 with 549.3 million streams.
“I am impressed. I am completely amazed by the love you have shown this album,” Swift wrote on X. “2.6 million, are you really serious? Thank you for listening, spreading, and welcoming the tortured poets into your life. I feel completely overwhelmed.
