MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – AUGUST 24: EDITORIAL USE ONLY. Taylor Swift performs onstage during the … [+]
Taylor Swift is very familiar with debuting new albums at No. 1 in the U.S. She’s managed some pretty incredible feats with her full-lengths, which always open atop the Billboard 200. As time goes by, she’s only becoming more and more successful–and she’s never been bigger than she is right now on the albums chart.
The Tortured Poets Department, Swift’s new album, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week. The title arrives with the largest start of the singer’s career–and the second-largest of all time since the Billboard 200 began using equivalent units and not just sales.
According to Billboard, The Tortured Poets Department opens atop the Billboard 200 with 2.61 million equivalent units shifted. That sum has only been seen once before in U.S. history.
In 2015, Adele’s 25 launched at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 3.48 million equivalent units shifted. That sum was almost entirely made up of pure sales, as the powerhouse vocalist’s third full-length sold 3.38 million copies in its first seven days.
The Tortured Poets Department’s first-week sum is made up somewhat more evenly between sales and streaming equivalents. The lengthy project racked up 891.34 million plays of the 31 tunes featured on the deluxe edition. According to Billboard’s methodology, that equals 683,000 equivalent streaming albums.
At the same time, The Tortured Poets Department also sold better than any album has in a long, long time. Swift’s new set sold 1.914 million copies in the first full tracking week–and that number is specific to the U.S., as her global total was much greater.
The Tortured Poets Department marks Swift’s fourteenth No. 1 on the Billboard 200. She earns the biggest launch yet nearly two decades and more than a dozen rulers into her career. Swift has now ruled the Billboard 200 chart with all of the following albums: Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Midnights, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
