And just when you think there’s no more record she could break, comes another historic milestone in Taylor Swift’s career. The singer’s latest album “The Life of a Showgirl” just broke record for highest first-week album sales of all time with 4 million copies sold. She broke a ten-year-old record set by Adele with her 2015 album “25” — which sold 3.4 million copies in its first week.
Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 4.002 million first-week equivalent album units, pure album sales (purchases of the physical and digital versions of the album) comprise 3,479,500 and SEA units comprise 522,600 (equaling 680.9 million on-demand official streams of the tracks on the album). The result sent the album straight to no. 1 on both the Top Album Sales and Top Streaming Album charts.
The unprecedented success followed a very savvy strategy on Swift’s part by releasing a whopping 30 versions of the album in limited drops. Each version features different covers and inserts, giving Swifties chances to own special-edition collectibles.
Meanwhile, all songs from the album debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, with lead single “The Fate of Ophelia” leading the pack at No. 1.