Taylor Swift’s most recent album sold 1.4 million copies in the United States on the day of its release. This number constitutes a record and even surpasses the cumulative sales of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) during the first week following its publication.
The magazine Billboard specifies that this 1.4 million corresponds to physical sales. The cumulative listenings of The Tortured Poets Department on music streaming platforms correspond, according to accepted industry calculations, to 1.6 million copies sold. And this, only on the day of its release, April 19.
Once again, Taylor Swift is competing with herself, since 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is the album that held the listening record. In one week, he had accumulated plays equivalent to 1,653 million records sold.
The Tortured Poets Department, an album with 31 songs, was released less than a week ago. It received a positive rating of 78/100 on the aggregator Metacritic. The magazine Rolling Stone praised it, but other media, including the New York Timess, welcomed it with more reserve.