Taylor Swift has once again proven her musical prowess in the week following the release of her 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” This robust 31-track collection has sky-rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, placing Swift shoulder-to-shoulder with Jay-Z, each with 14 albums under their belts reigning at the top. Yet, there’s a longer climb ahead, with The Beatles still leading the way at an impressive 19 No. 1 albums.
“The Tortured Poets Department,” with its mellifluous melodies and intricate lyrics, has garnered an astounding 2.61 million equivalent album units, as reported by industry data and analytics experts, Luminate. A staggering 1.91 million of these units were driven by good ol’ traditional album sales, indicating people splurging on downloads, CDs, cassettes, and especially vinyl. Vinyl sales soared to 859,000 units, setting a new record in the contemporary era of music.
Swift’s magnum opus of 2024 has overshadowed even Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter”, managing to haul in a mere 228,000 units. While the “Cowboy Carter” had its fair share of success on the streaming platforms, contributing to a total of 407,000 equivalent album units, it pales in comparison to its rival.
The streaming game has seen quite the splash with “The Tortured Poets Department” racking up a jaw-dropping 891.34 million album streams, claiming the record for the most significant streaming week for an album in history, Luminate confirms. Swift has shattered the previous single-week benchmark set for streams, outperforming Drake’s “Scorpion” which held 745.92 million streams in 2018, and his 2021 album “Certified Lover Boy” with 743.67 million streams. It even surpassed Swift’s former release, “Midnights”, which pulled in 549.3 million in 2022.
“I’m completely floored by the love you’ve shown this album,” Swift gushed on social media platform X, scarcely coming to grips with the staggering 2.6 million figure. “Thank you for listening, streaming, and welcoming Tortured Poets into your life. Feeling completely overwhelmed.”
By Monday afternoon, charts showed that Swift’s command of the music industry didn’t end with album streams. Her captivating tracks secured the top 14 spots on the Billboard Hot 100. This breaking of another record was hardly a surprise, considering Swift previously carved a niche as the only artist who monopolized the top 10 with her last album, “Midnights”, in 2022.
The number one position on the charts was clinched by her lead single, “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone. Other chart toppers from the album include “Down Bad,” “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” “The Tortured Poets Department”, and the wistful “So Long, London.” The stratospheric success of “The Tortured Poets Department” underscores Swift’s unparalleled musical offering and the enduring love of her fans worldwide.