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Taylor Swift’s latest album sold 1.6mn US units in a single day, including 600,000 vinyl copies, putting The Tortured Poets Department on track to become one of the highest-selling music releases since Nielsen began tracking album sales in 1991.
Swift’s 11th compilation record has smashed records since its release on Friday, selling 1.6mn US album-equivalent units in one day, according to Nielsen’s Luminate data group. About 1.4mn of that tally came from traditional format sales — such as vinyl, CDs and cassettes — an unusual feat in a country where streaming is the dominant form of music listening.
On Spotify, The Tortured Poets Department was streamed more than 300mn times globally on its first day, easily the biggest debut on the platform.
At 34, Swift is the biggest star the music business has seen in several decades. Her sales have reached levels unheard of since the 1990s, when the popularity of CDs left the US music business flush with cash.
“Based on first-day activity, it is clear that TTPD will debut north of 2mn units [in its first week],” music industry blog “Hits Daily Double” wrote on Saturday.
It would be only the third album to reach such levels since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. Previously, Adele’s 25 sold 3.4mn first-week albums in 2015, while Nsync’s No Strings Attached sold 2.4mn in 2000, just before the music business was decimated by online piracy.
Other big releases this year have included Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter which earned 407,000 first-week sales and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine which debuted with 227,000.
Nielsen’s Luminate data group calculates album-equivalent units that include listening on streaming platforms as well as sales of vinyl, CDs and digital downloads.
More than half a century after the heyday of LPs, EPs and singles, vinyl has gone through a renaissance as fans gobble them up as collectibles. Buying such hard copies is also part of fans’ strategies to support their favourite artists and try to propel them up the music charts — a trend that originated in the world of K-Pop but has expanded to US stars such as Swift.
The Tortured Poets Department’s sales were likely to have been helped by the wide array of special editions of vinyl, CDs and tape cassettes available to buy, including versions offering exclusive bonus songs.
Universal Music, which distributes Swift’s music and receives a percentage of her album sales, reported €1.3bn in net income on €11.1bn in revenue last year.
However, Swift has defied her label, Universal, with the rollout of TTPD.
Amid a months-long battle between Universal and TikTok over royalty payments — which left Universal’s vast catalogue of songs muted from the popular app — Swift last week decided to bring her music back to TikTok.
TikTok on Friday announced a number of measures to amplify Swift’s new album on its platform, capitalising on her presence even while other Universal stars such as Grande have not been able to use it to promote their new work.
After The Tortured Poets Department, Spotify’s biggest album debuts have included Swift’s Midnights, with 186mn first-day streams; Swift’s re-recorded version of 1989 at 176mn; and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy with more than 150mn.
