Billboard 200 - 11/10/2012 Taylor 1.21 million

[Deleted]

Taylor Swift's 'Red' Sells 1.21 Million -- Biggest Sales Week for an Album Since 2002

October 30, 2012 | By Keith Caulfield, Los Angeles


It's official: Taylor Swift's "Red" sold a whopping 1.208 million copies last week in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's more than any album has sold in a single week since 2002, when Eminem's "The Eminem Show" sold 1.322 million in its first full week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

"Red" also easily debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, scoring Swift her third chart-topper.

"Red" is only the 18th album to sell a million units in a single week since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. Its start ranks as the eighth-biggest sales week in that span of time. The SoundScan-era record week is held by NSync's "No Strings Attached," when it debuted at No. 1 with 2.416 million in 2000.

Swift's sizzling start is also the second-largest sales frame for a female artist. Only Britney Spears had a bigger week, when "Oops! . . . I Did It Again" sold 1.319 million in its debut in 2000.

As we projected last week, the blockbuster set marks the first album to move a million copies in a week since May of 2011, when Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" blasted in with 1.108 million in its No. 1 debut. However, "Red's" number is a bit bigger than the 1.100 million that had been forecasted by industry sources.

"Red" also makes Swift the only woman to have two million-selling weeks since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. The country/pop star earlier earned a million week when her last studio release, 2010's "Speak Now," launched with 1.047 million.

Swift and her "Red" set were inescapable last week, following the album's off-cycle release on Monday, Oct. 22. (Most albums bow on Tuesday each week.) The singer appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" (Oct. 22 and 23), CBS' "The Late Show With David Letterman" (23), ABC's "The View" (24), "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (25), ABC's "Katie" and "20/20" (26). Her album was available in locations such as Starbucks, Walgreens (where she had her own dedicated mini-store in each outlet) and Papa John's Pizza.

How Taylor Swift's 'Red' Is Getting A Boost From Branding Mega-Deals

Further, Target scored the only deluxe version of "Red" with additional audio content (three bonus songs and three remixes), while the iTunes Store was the exclusive digital retailer of the title last week.

Business Matters: Why Taylor Swift's 'Red' is Absent From Subscription Services

Label sources indicate that iTunes sold nearly 465,000 copies of the album -- a record sales week for an iTunes album. Target rang up around 396,000 on its own -- again, a record for the retailer. Swift's unique deal with Papa John's yielded a meaty 8,000 copies of "Red." While that number looks small compared to Target and iTunes, to put it in perspective, it's almost half of the total "Red" CDs sold via Amazon.com. Papa John's sold the CD for $13 and also as part of large one-topping pizza combo for $22. (Large single-topping pizzas on their own sell for $12.) Swift's face was also plastered across the top of Papa John's pizza boxes, so even if customers didn't buy the album, they were certainly aware of it existing.

Impressively, "Red" was able to secure a million-selling week without any deep-discount sale pricing: The lowest that the album was advertised for among all major retailers last week was $9.99. That was the price point for the standard edition of the album at Target and Best Buy, while iTunes offered it for $14.99. Kmart and Walmart sold it for $12.99 and $13.99, respectively. Target touted its exclusive deluxe version for $14.99.

"Red's" lack of low pricing stands in contrast to the last album that did a million in a week: Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." That set's 1.108 million first week was fueled partly by Amazon MP3 opting to sell the album for 99 cents on two separate days during its release week. ("Red," however, was only available as a digital album via iTunes, leaving Amazon MP3 -- and any possible discounting -- out of the picture.)

Read more at www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/taylor-swift-s-red-sells-1-21-million-biggest-1007994362.story#1X4tbEqAcD7qMX5W.99

[josh]

So basically even with HITS, just a tad under.

[Lozzy]

8,000 copies sold at Papa John's! Impressive.

[Deleted]

The top 10 biggest one week sellers

1 4/8/2000 No Strings Attached 'N Sync 2,416,000
2 8/11/2001 Celebrity 'N Sync 1,880,000
3 6/10/2000 The Marshall Mathers LP Eminem 1,760,000
4 12/9/2000 Black & Blue Backstreet Boys 1,591,000
5 6/15/2002 The Eminem Show Eminem 1,322,000
6 6/3/2000 Oops...I Did It Again Britney Spears 1,319,000
7 1/6/2001 1 The Beatles 1,259,000
8 11/10/2012 Red Taylor Swift 1,210,000
9 3/19/2005 The Massacre 50 Cent 1,141,000
10 6/5/1999 Millennium Backstreet Boys 1,134,000

[strikeleo]

Great numbers! If you consider that they really didn't do any discount, at all, it gets even more impressive. Way to go Swift!

[swim]

Because I'm a numbers geek, for Taylor to reach 3 million by the year's end--a bit of a stretch, but NOT impossible, she needs to average 199,112 albums per week for the remaining 9 weeks of the year.

This is where the real fun begins, will this album continue to dominate?

Or, just for shiggles, let's look at this another way. If Taylor can reach 2 million in the next three weeks (including this new week), she needs to average 264,000. This would be 2 million before Thanksgiving sales week. For the remaining six weeks, which will include holiday sales and iTunes gift cards she would need to average 166,667 copies per week to reach 3 million by the end of 2012.

Didn't Speak Now do this? Or at least come very close? This album seems bigger, but a lot of bigger albums seem to be having larger drop offs these days.

[Lozzy]

The chart year (unfortunately) runs from December 1 to November 30, so I'm pretty sure there's only a month of sales left to count towards the 2012 year-end chart.

[Deleted]

They are meaning the calendar year which ends on December 31

[👑 Eloquent ™]

Oct 30, 2012 20:21:24 GMT -5 swim said:

Because I'm a numbers geek, for Taylor to reach 3 million by the year's end--a bit of a stretch, but NOT impossible, she needs to average 199,112 albums per week for the remaining 9 weeks of the year.

This is where the real fun begins, will this album continue to dominate?

Or, just for shiggles, let's look at this another way. If Taylor can reach 2 million in the next three weeks (including this new week), she needs to average 264,000. This would be 2 million before Thanksgiving sales week. For the remaining six weeks, which will include holiday sales and iTunes gift cards she would need to average 166,667 copies per week to reach 3 million by the end of 2012.

Didn't Speak Now do this? Or at least come very close? This album seems bigger, but a lot of bigger albums seem to be having larger drop offs these days.

I believe Speak Now was around 2.8 by the end of the calendar year.

[HolidayGuy]

It's a "love story," indeed, with Taylor Swift and the fans.

[CammyCan]

Absolutely incredible numbers! To pull off two million+ debuts in a row is already impressive enough, but to increase the second go around is just mind blowing. Hopefully Big Machine doesn't linger and sends "I Knew You Were Trouble" to CHR soon to keep sales high this holiday season.

[musicjunky318]

A big sigh of relief amongst Britney stans.

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

[HolidayGuy]

The Red tally is impressive for a number of reasons, but especially a) in 2012 and b) it's Swift's fourth album.

[👑 Eloquent ™]

I love that there are those who are gloating about an album released twelve years ago during perhaps one of the most lucrative times in the music industry maintaining its record against an album released during the most disastrous point for the music industry by a mere 100,000 copies. I love both girls, but do people not realize how silly that looks? lol

[HolidayGuy]

Yeah, there should be no gloating. A million-plus units is impressive in any year, but especially in this depressed climate.

[Mark]

Oct 30, 2012 20:56:40 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

I love that there are those who are gloating about an album released twelve years ago during perhaps one of the most lucrative times in the music industry maintaining its record against an album released during the most disastrous point for the music industry by a mere 100,000 copies. I love both girls, but do people not realize how silly that looks? lol

Cue 2m's reply on how there is no difference between a million then and a million now.

[Fat Ass Kelly Price]

Well, it is a lot more convoluted than simply saying that one is more "impressive" due to a certain economic or industry climate.

[Lozzy]

I thought Britney sold 1,319,193 not 1,325,311.

[Verisimilitude]

Week Ending Oct. 28, 2012. Albums: 1,208,000!

By Paul Grein | Chart Watch – 1 hour 46 minutes ago

Taylor Swift's Red sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week, which represents the greatest one-week total since Eminem's The Eminem Show sold 1,322,000 copies in its first full week in June 2002. It's the second-highest one-week sales tally ever for a female artist. Britney Spears' Oops!...I Did It Again sold 1,319,000 in its first week in May 2000. (Swift should get extra credit for degree of difficulty. It's much harder to do this now than it was back then when records were, you know, selling.)

The tally for Red is up from the 1,047,000 that Swift's previous album, Speak Now, sold in its first week in October 2010. And that was up from the 592K copies that her sophomore album, Fearless, sold its first week in November 2008. And that was way up from the 39K that her first album, Taylor Swift, sold 39K in its first week in October 2006.

Swift is one of only four artists to ring up first-week sales of 1 million or more copies more than once. The others are Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and Eminem. This makes Swift the first female artist and the first country artist to achieve this feat. And she's just the second artist, following Backstreet Boys, to see its sales increase from its first million-selling first-week to its second. Details below.

The tally for Red includes nearly 465K digital copies, which constitutes the second-highest digital total in history. Lady Gaga's Born This Way sold 662K digital copies in its first week in May 2011. And that total included about 400K copies that sold for 99 cents at Amazon MP3. (Gaga fans wish I'd stop bringing that up, but it is a pretty significant asterisk.) Mumford & Sons' Babel sold 420K digital copies in its first week in September.

Red becomes Swift's third #1 album on The Billboard 200. Swift is only the third female artist in country music history to notch three #1 albums. She follows Faith Hill, who scored with Breathe, Cry and Fireflies, and Carrie Underwood, who scored with Carnival Ride, Play On and Blown Away. (Hill, of course, is married to Tim McGraw, the subject of Swift's first hit on both the Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs, "Tim McGraw.")

Red will almost certainly wind up as the album that sold the most copies in one week in 2012. This will be the second year in which Swift posted the biggest first week of any album that year. She also had the biggest first-week tally of 2010 with Speak Now.

Swift is one of four artists to have the year's fastest-breaking new album two or more times since 1992, the first full year that Nielsen SoundScan tracked sales for Billboard. Garth Brooks had the fastest-breaking album four times in the 1990s. *NSYNC and 50 Cent each had it twice.

Red is already the third-best selling album of 2012. It trails only Adele's 21 (4,095,000 sold so far this year) and One Direction's Up All Night (1,302,000). I figure Red will wind up #2 for the year. That would make this the fourth year that Swift has had one of the three best-selling albums of the year. Fearless was #3 for 2008 and #1 for 2009. Speak Now was #3 for 2010.

That would also make Swift only the second artist, following Eminem, to rank in the top three at year's end four times since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales for Billboard in 1991. The Marshall Mathers LP was #2 for 2000. The Eminem Show was #1 for 2002. Encore was #3 for 2004. Recovery was #1 for 2010.

Red also debuts at #1 in the U.K. It's Swift's first #1 album in the U.K. Fearless peaked at #5. Speak Now reached #6. Moreover, it's only the second country/pop crossover album to reach #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. since the U.K. originated in 1952. It follows Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden, which topped both the charts in both countries in 2007.

Now, for you numbers geeks, here's the backup on the four acts have started with sales of 1 million or more twice. Backstreet Boys scored in 1999 with Millennium (1,134,000) and in 2000 with Black & Blue (1,591,000). *NSYNC scored in 2000 with No Strings Attached (2,416,000) and in 2001 with Celebrity (1,880,000). Eminem scored in 2000 with The Marshall Mathers LP (1,760,000) and in 2002 with The Eminem Show (1,322,000). The Fine Print: The latter album charted a week earlier with sales of 285K, based on just three days of sales. The album's release had been hurriedly pushed up (twice) to combat an Internet leak. This was its first full week of sales.

Shameless Plug I: I'm commemorating Swift's achievement with two Chart Watch Extras. The first one, which went up on Friday, identified the album that has posted the biggest first-week sales in every year since 1992, the first full year of the Nielsen SoundScan era.

Shameless Plug II: Before Nielsen SoundScan came along, how did artists achieve bragging rights for having the fastest-breaking album of the year? By climbing to #1 on the Billboard chart the fastest. This second Chart Watch Extra will identify the album that rose to #1 the fastest in every year from 1955 through 1990. Look for it on Friday.

To My Readers: Billboard.com posted Swift's first-week sales tally early, which allowed me to get this news to you early. The rest of the sales tallies and chart rankings in this report are based on industry projections (which are usually pretty close to the final results). I'll update all the sales tallies and rankings with the final, official rankings on Wednesday morning around 8 a.m., when that information becomes public.

Kendrick Lamar's debut album, good kid m.A.A.d. city, is expected to debut at #2 with a sales tally around 242K. It's the first top 10 album for the rapper from South Central L.A. Lamar's "Swimming Pools (Drank)" is a top 15 hit on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It has sold 295K copies. Lamar's 242K opening would have put it at #1 in all but 12 weeks this year.

Jason Aldean's Night Train is expected to drop from #1 to #3 in its second week. It tops the 500K mark in just two weeks. His last album, My Kinda Party, took seven weeks to reach that threshold.

Tony Bennett's Viva Duets is expected to debut at #5. It's his fifth top 10 album; his third since October 2006. Remarkably, Bennett has amassed more top 10 albums since he turned 80 (in August 2006) than he did in his entire career up until that point.

Moreover, a #5 debut would give Bennett a 50-year span of top five albums. He first cracked the top five the week of Nov. 24, 1962 with I Left My Heart In San Francisco. (Note: The current week corresponds to the Billboard issue dated Nov. 10, 2012.) Only Frank Sinatra has a longer span of top five albums (March 23, 1946 to Aug. 25, 2012). Viva Duets consists of duets with Latin music stars (or pop stars of Latin ancestry) such as Christina Aguilera, Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, Thalia and Vincente Fernandez.

Blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr.'s Blak And Blu is expected to debut at #8. This is a popular album title. The Rolling Stones and Lou Rawls both charted with albums titled Black And Blue. Backstreet Boys and Harold Melvin & the Blue-Notes both charted with albums titled Black & Blue.

Lady Antebellum's On This Winter's Night is expected to debut at #9. It's the trio's third top 10 album, following Lady Antebellum (#3 in 2008) and Need You Now (#1 in 2010). The trio released a holiday EP in 2010, Merry Little Christmas, which reached #12. It has sold 392K copies.

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums. Bear in mind that all numbers are projected chart rankings and sales tallies.

The Top Five: Taylor Swift's Red debuts at #1 (1,208,000). It's Swift's fifth top 10 album; her third to reach #1… Kendrick Lamar's good kid m.A.A.d. city debuts at #2 (242K). It's Lamar's first top 10 album…Jason Aldean's Night Train drops from #1 to #3 in its second week (114K)…Mumford & Sons' Babel drops from #2 to #4 in its fifth week (56K)…. Tony Bennett's Viva Duets debuts at #5 (35K). It's his fifth top 10 album.
The Second Five: Stone Sour's House Of Gold & Bones, Part One debuts at #6 (26K). It's the band's third top 10 album…P!nk's The Truth About Love dips from #6 to #7 in its seventh week (26K)… Gary Clark Jr.'s Blak And Blu debuts at #8 (25K). It's his first top 10 album… Lady Antebellum's On This Winter's Night debuts at #9 (23K). It's the trio's third top 10 album…Brandy's Two Eleven drops from #3 to #10 in its second week (21K).
Six albums are expected to drop out of the top 10 this week: Scotty McCreery's Christmas With Scotty McCreery (from #4 to about #13), Jamey Johnson's Living For A Song: Tribute To Hank Cochran (from #5 to about #32), Miguel's Kaleidoscope Dream (from #7 to about #16), Little Big Town's Tornado (from #8 to about #11), Adele's 21 (from #9 to about #12) and Dethklok's Metalocalypse: Dethalbum III (from #10 probably out of the top 50).

Swedish House Mafia's Until Now is expected to debut around #15. "Don't You Worry Child" (featuring John Martin) is climbing the Hot 100…The Sword's Apocryphon is expected to debut around #18…Bridgit Mendler's Hello My Name Is… is expected to debut around #27. Her "Ready Or Not" cracked the Hot 100 last week. Mendler, 19, stars in the Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie.

The Pitch Perfect soundtrack is expected to drop from #13 to about #31 in its fifth week. It'll be the top-ranking soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie for the fifth week. The movie dropped from #8 to #11 in its fifth weekend at the box-office. (Argo rose to #1.)

Journey's 1988 album Greatest Hits is expected to jump from #64 to about #50. That would put it at #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the 13th week; the fourth time this year.

Coming Attractions: Toby Keith's Hope On The Rocks is expected to be among next week's top new entries. Also due: Meek Mill's Dreams & Nightmares, Rod Stewart's Merry Christmas Baby, Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Psychedelic Pill, Flyleaf's New Horizons, Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Dreams Of Fireflies (On A Christmas Night), Calvin Harris' 18 Months, Cee Lo Green's Cee Lo's Magic Moment, A Very Special Christmas 25th Anniversary, and Andre Rieu's Home For The Holidays.

[Push The Button]

Oct 30, 2012 20:56:40 GMT -5 👑 Eloquent ™ said:

I love that there are those who are gloating about an album released twelve years ago during perhaps one of the most lucrative times in the music industry maintaining its record against an album released during the most disastrous point for the music industry by a mere 100,000 copies. I love both girls, but do people not realize how silly that looks? lol

Especially since this release sold more in one week than Britney's latest sold in total worldwide.

[areyoureadytojump]

^^Paul is using numbers/positions from the HITS chart.

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

What other non-conventional outlets was this available at other than Papa John's?

[Lozzy]

Starbucks and Walgreens, according to the first article in this thread.

[areyoureadytojump]

^Starbucks really isn't non-traditional. They've been selling albums for years.

Billboard includes Starbucks sales for their chart preview articles on Fridays.

[fridayteenage]

I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how many total albums sold last week. I'm guessing Red represented 19-20% of all album sales.

Oops had 9%.

[when the pawn...]

These numbers are absolutely outstanding for Taylor Swift. To have increased album over album, even after the monstrous Fearless, is incredible. IMO, no one has Taylor's selling power in the industry today. Congrats to her, not even a huge fan - I can only root for her. This week has been exciting, waiting for/watching her numbers.

Without 21 still pulling insane numbers, we can only hope Red beasts its way through the next year.

p.s. Born This Way was discounted for 99 cents on Amazon for two days. We all know it happened. It sold 1.1 million albums in its first week. That also happened.

[jughead]

You know you're doing well when you release an album on the 4th quarter and its first week sales alone are enough to make it the 3rd best-selling album of the year.

[Peaches. [Ch, r. is]]

She should've just released in the beginning of the year. I'm sure she could've gotten over 1 mil then too.

[Lozzy]

Oct 30, 2012 22:45:52 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

^Starbucks really isn't non-traditional. They've been selling albums for years.

Oh, didn't know that!