1989 outsells 'Red' & 'Speak Now'

[brady47]

After just 19 weeks of release, Taylor Swift's 1989 has now outsold both of her last two albums.

1989 sold another 44,000 copies in the week ending March 8, according to Nielsen Music, lifting the title's total sales to 4.505 million. 1989 already surpassed the sales of Swift's last album, 2012's Red (4.160 million after 124 weeks), a few weeks ago, while 1989 now jumps past her earlier album, 2010's Speak Now (4.480 million after 228 weeks) in the latest tracking week.

Selling millions of albums is nothing new for Swift, of course. The new twist to her sales story is 1989's sales rate. In merely 19 weeks, it has surpassed the sales of what was her third-biggest seller, which has been on sale for 228 weeks.

Next up on Swift's personal hit list: her self-titled 2006 debut (5.492 million) and her biggest seller, 2008's Fearless (6.909 million).

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6502076/taylor-swift-1989-outsold-her-last-two-albums

Sales queen, I can't believe how fast 1989 is selling! She hasn't had an extended run like this since Fearless.

[Flip]

No suprise

[Caviar]

So happy 4 her

[ificanthaveyou]

If they play their cards right, and milk another two singles from this, it has an outside chance of becoming her biggest seller yet.

P.S. I would love for Tay to release a Christmas album at the end of the year, ala Wrapped In Red. A few originals, a good video for the first single. It would easily go 2x platinum.

[Joe1240]

Mar 16, 2015 1:52:58 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

If they play their cards right, and milk another two singles from this, it has an outside chance of becoming her biggest seller yet.

P.S. I would love for Tay to release a Christmas album at the end of the year, ala Wrapped In Red. A few originals, a good video for the first single. It would easily go 2x platinum.

Taylor already has a Christmas EP out since 2007. :)

[ificanthaveyou]

Mar 16, 2015 1:57:32 GMT -5 Joe1240 said:

Mar 16, 2015 1:52:58 GMT -5 ificanthaveyou said:

If they play their cards right, and milk another two singles from this, it has an outside chance of becoming her biggest seller yet.

P.S. I would love for Tay to release a Christmas album at the end of the year, ala Wrapped In Red. A few originals, a good video for the first single. It would easily go 2x platinum.

Taylor already has a Christmas EP out since 2007. :)

I remember the EP, but it only has six songs... I want a full album with several originals. Plus she's soooo popular right now, and a Christmas album at this stage in her career would fly off the shelves.

[jjose712]

Now it seems obvious, but a lot of people were predicting her to lose a lot of album sales with the full pop transition.
It's true that country albums use to be longsellers (to be honest i don't know if country is at its best right now because there are a lot of albums of big country stars with sales less than stellar right now) so it was not unthinkable that going full pop could damage her album sales.

I don't know if 1989 will be able to beat Fearless but it wouldn't surprise me if it's able to do it

[born]

I totally agree with the idea for a Christmas album, and I would love to get some instant christmas pop classics like "All I Want For Christmas" and "Underneath The Tree" :) Another nice idea: A Greatest Hits Album with 3-4 new songs and some new remix collaborations(if she does a Greatest Hits I want it to have like MANY songs in it, even more than Kelly's epic Greatest Hits Chapter One). Finally a live or an acoustic version of 1989(before the release of her next album) Btw, I think 1989 will definetely outsell Fearless. I would've said by next January but its sales will decrease so I suspect, it will outsell Fearless in Summer 2016.

[dbhmr]

I think a Christmas album would be a bad move for her right now. It seems like a great thing when her career is (eventually) winding down a bit, but for now, she just needs to keep making red-hot music to keep her star power at this nearly unmatched level for a while. It doesn't seem like something anyone would want from her, either, except people obsessed with everything she releases. She doesn't have the kind of sound that would translate well to a highly anticipated holiday album (e.g., a big voice like Kelly or Mariah, or a generally melancholy sound like Sarah McLachlan). I think she could come up with some cool, slow original songs akin to "Back to December," but I think she's a few years out from releasing such an album.

[Taylor.]

I'd be okay with like, one original Christmas song as part of some compilation or for a movie or something. But she's not in the right place in her career right now to release a full Christmas album.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

Count me in among the people who didn't think this album would go as well as it did. I figured she would face backlash from country and not be able to make up the loss through pop but it helped that her album was actually good and that she changed up her formula enough to not recreate poppier versions of songs she's already done.

[cjay]

I think part of the reason why this worked well is because Taylor didn't try to sell pop songs to Country. That's where Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes among others went wrong. I haven't heard any backlash from country radio. I heard backlash more with the Red album because quite of few of the songs were more pop leaning.

[jjose712]

She is a smart woman and this album and the whole promo show that very clear.
She had some difficulties with Red on the country charts. Apart of Begin again (and even that song struggled to reach the top) most of her songs had a hard time there, and We are never ever getting back together had a severe stop on the country airplay chart (no surprise, Eric Church's the Outsiders suffered the same fate, and in fact lately almost everything that doesn't sound like bro country no matter how popular is ends suffering some radio backlash)
She knew that she cannot continue with the same formula, and she had enough pop hits to try the full pop album.
And yes, Shake it off is incredibly catchy, her videos are great and the album is really good, but it's more than that.
The whole promo of this album was amazing. She was able to show her self deprecating personality without looking like false modesty, she was funny and great in the shows she participated. In the voice she gave great advice and was funny and nice with the contestants.
And even her persona as celebrity changed, she knew the whole too many boyfriends (no matter how productive they were in terms of creativity for her songs) it was going to end burning (specially because there were a big PR sign in most of them) and she totally changed her ways this time. Every time there's speculation of a new relationship, is the press and not her PR behind it.

That would follow with a successful tour, and she is opening the gates to future collaborations with a lot of people in the business and in different genres (which makes more people receptive to her music).
And now her and her music are cool, not only successful.

Right now is easy to forget that predictions for the first week sales were below 700k at some point

[WolfSpear]

It's not surprising to see how dominate Taylor Swift is. If anybody is making good 'pop' music, it's her. Sure, you can argue that Katy Perry is too, but truth is most of her music is dance heavy and borders on eardigestion.

Overall, if the sales continue to be as successful in this low volume economy, I'd say she has a shot at Artist of the Decade. She will most certainly take home Album of the Year with the 1989, unless Adele comes charging in but I don't think so.

[brucelover]

She's got Artist of the Decade on lock. Three 4x Platinum albums is already better than literally everyone else. Adele will be a one-era wonder the same way Alanis, Carole King, Norah Jones were.

[NeRD]

Flawless album.

Deserves every bit of its success.

[felipe]

I didn't know her debut album had sold that much.

[swim]

sales have kind of leveled off, but are still consistently solid. this should easily pass her debut by the end of the era. i think promo would have to be really strong continuously through the end of the era with a huge single #4 and #5 to put it in reach of Fearless.

[jjose712]

Apr 11, 2015 18:42:25 GMT -5 brucelover said:

She's got Artist of the Decade on lock. Three 4x Platinum albums is already better than literally everyone else. Adele will be a one-era wonder the same way Alanis, Carole King, Norah Jones were.

I don't think so. Adele probably won't repeat the success of 21, but she won't be a one era wonder because 19 sales were very big too (and without any hits on radio)

[Joe1240]

A Album Of The Year nomination at next year's Grammys plus a little extra promo should push this past 6-7.5 Million. I think it could end up getting close to what "Fearless" had.

[areyoureadytojump]

oldbloke says "1989" will pass Eminem's "Recovery" next week to become the 2nd best selling album released since 2010.

Week 14: "Recovery" 4,662,000 and "1989" 4,649,000

[Hefty Hanna]

Apr 12, 2015 8:41:58 GMT -5 areyoureadytojump said:

oldbloke says "1989" will pass Eminem's "Recovery" next week to become the 2nd best selling album released since 2010.

Week 14: "Recovery" 4,662,000 and "1989" 4,649,000

What's the first biggest?

[when the pawn...]

21 by Adele has sold over 11 million copies. So that title is safe.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Apr 12, 2015 4:39:18 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

Apr 11, 2015 18:42:25 GMT -5 brucelover said:

She's got Artist of the Decade on lock. Three 4x Platinum albums is already better than literally everyone else. Adele will be a one-era wonder the same way Alanis, Carole King, Norah Jones were.

I don't think so. Adele probably won't repeat the success of 21, but she won't be a one era wonder because 19 sales were very big too (and without any hits on radio)

19's sales are big because 21's sales were big. When 21 was at it's peak, 19 was moving tons of units for a 3 year old album. Still, 21 moved 30+ million units worldwide. 19 has barely moved 1/4 of that. I would say that the most likely course for her third album is somewhere well below of 21's numbers.

[jjose712]

Apr 13, 2015 15:47:26 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Apr 12, 2015 4:39:18 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

I don't think so. Adele probably won't repeat the success of 21, but she won't be a one era wonder because 19 sales were very big too (and without any hits on radio)

19's sales are big because 21's sales were big. When 21 was at it's peak, 19 was moving tons of units for a 3 year old album. Still, 21 moved 30+ million units worldwide. 19 has barely moved 1/4 of that. I would say that the most likely course for her third album is somewhere well below of 21's numbers.

19 sold a lot of albums before 21, specially for a woman who was not on radio, Chasing pavements was barely a hot AC hit and that's all, well no, the song peaked inside top 40 on the hot 100 when she won her grammy of best new artist.

And of course her new album will sell less than 21. We are talking about 1989, one of the best selling albums of this decade, and 1989 sales look pale if we compare them with 21. I don't think noboy is expecting Adele to have such monster album again, but she is going to sell really well (unless the album for some reason became a flop, but i doubt it).

And what happen with 19 when 21 was at its peak is nothing rare, we are seeing exactly the same right now (to a more reduced scale) with Ed Sheeran's +, and album that sold well back in the day but that it's pushed back to the charts by the success of x

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Apr 14, 2015 3:04:50 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

Apr 13, 2015 15:47:26 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

19's sales are big because 21's sales were big. When 21 was at it's peak, 19 was moving tons of units for a 3 year old album. Still, 21 moved 30+ million units worldwide. 19 has barely moved 1/4 of that. I would say that the most likely course for her third album is somewhere well below of 21's numbers.

19 sold a lot of albums before 21, specially for a woman who was not on radio, Chasing pavements was barely a hot AC hit and that's all, well no, the song peaked inside top 40 on the hot 100 when she won her grammy of best new artist.

And of course her new album will sell less than 21. We are talking about 1989, one of the best selling albums of this decade, and 1989 sales look pale if we compare them with 21. I don't think noboy is expecting Adele to have such monster album again, but she is going to sell really well (unless the album for some reason became a flop, but i doubt it).

And what happen with 19 when 21 was at its peak is nothing rare, we are seeing exactly the same right now (to a more reduced scale) with Ed Sheeran's +, and album that sold well back in the day but that it's pushed back to the charts by the success of x

I'm not saying 19 wasn't a success. It was a critical success and moved tons of units after her Grammy wins, but it would never have crossed the double platinum line without 21 being what it was.

[jjose712]

Apr 14, 2015 7:05:51 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Apr 14, 2015 3:04:50 GMT -5 jjose712 said:

19 sold a lot of albums before 21, specially for a woman who was not on radio, Chasing pavements was barely a hot AC hit and that's all, well no, the song peaked inside top 40 on the hot 100 when she won her grammy of best new artist.

And of course her new album will sell less than 21. We are talking about 1989, one of the best selling albums of this decade, and 1989 sales look pale if we compare them with 21. I don't think noboy is expecting Adele to have such monster album again, but she is going to sell really well (unless the album for some reason became a flop, but i doubt it).

And what happen with 19 when 21 was at its peak is nothing rare, we are seeing exactly the same right now (to a more reduced scale) with Ed Sheeran's +, and album that sold well back in the day but that it's pushed back to the charts by the success of x

I'm not saying 19 wasn't a success. It was a critical success and moved tons of units after her Grammy wins, but it would never have crossed the double platinum line without 21 being what it was.

It doesn't matter, because the original point was that Adele wasn't a one era wonder which is true.

Yeah, the grammys push the album a lot because she benefited of the exposure, without radio hits and being a new and foreign artist it's difficult to sell a lot of records.

21 was a monster album, and it could be even bigger if she continue releasing singles, because Turning tables was a hit waiting to happen.

1989 is a monster album too, but even now it's difficult to think it could play in 21 league in a near future. The big disadvantage 1989 have is that Taylor is pushing singles too fast (curiously not because the singles have short lifespan, because the truth at least the first three will surpase the 20 week mark on the top 50 without a problem) so she will be need a good bunch of singles.
Fortunately for Taylor she has enough material in the album to keep releasing singles for a good while. And even when the singles stop, the album will probably carry stable decent sales for a good while, because 1989 is showing the kind of stability that generally ends in selling at a decent rhythm for a good while even when there's no push or not publicity for the album (something that is happening too with In the lonely hour and to a lesser extent with X).

I think 1989 could easily end being Taylor's best selling album, or be near of that. Right now it seems simple, but the truth is it was a risky bet. Country albums have a tendency to sell well during a long time, and she risked to lose her country fanbase (now it seems quite easy to say it didn't happened). And of course the reception of her pop songs could be less than stellar, but she is a smart woman, and in the long run she knew she had to take a decesion, and she put all her efforts to succeed.

Right now she is the pop star with capital P, no other diva is able to compete with her, the ones able to compete in singles success are very far from her album sales.
And she improved her game a lot in her relationship with the media, she took control of her life and public image, which end with the endless lists of "boyfriends" that the media loved but that in the end were bad for her, because distract the attention of what's important

[BlueSwan]

I was surprised about the succes of this album. Pure pop albums rarely sell that well, especially not in this era of weak sales. Second, while I never used to like Swift, I find this album excellent - arguably the best of 2014 - and albums that I love very rarely do all that well saleswise. Infact, I am currently daring to investigate her back catalogue a bit, although I'm pretty sure that it is not for me.

Here's one for the chart experts: Which other artists have 5 albums each selling over 4 million copies?

[crystalphnx]

Apr 14, 2015 10:02:56 GMT -5 BlueSwan said:

Here's one for the chart experts: Which other artists have 5 albums each selling over 4 million copies?

Are you only including actual sales/Soundscan era? Or any albums that have ever been certified 4x Platinum or higher? If it's the latter, it'll be a much longer list.

Re: Soundscan era, there's Mariah, of course:

7,605,000, "Daydream" (1995)
7,271,000, "Music Box" (1993)
5,980,000, "The Emancipation of Mimi" (2005)
5,298,000, "Merry Christmas" (1994)
4,878,000, "Mariah Carey" (1990)

Celine:

10,785,000, "Falling Into You"
9,465,000, "Let's Talk About Love"
7,934,000, "All the Way...A Decade of Song"
5,151,000, "These Are Special Times"
4,502,000, "The Colour of My Love"

Eminem:

10,766,000, "The Marhsall Mathers LP"
10,270,000, "The Eminem Show"
5,433,000, "The Slim Shady LP"
5,343,000, "Encore"
4,509,000, "Recovery"

Garth Brooks too, but I don't have raw sales figures for him. Some of the figures I posted are a bit outdated now, but all of those albums have clearly passed 4 million.

[onebuffalo]

Apr 14, 2015 10:02:56 GMT -5 BlueSwan said:

I was surprised about the succes of this album. Pure pop albums rarely sell that well, especially not in this era of weak sales. Second, while I never used to like Swift, I find this album excellent - arguably the best of 2014 - and albums that I love very rarely do all that well saleswise. Infact, I am currently daring to investigate her back catalogue a bit, although I'm pretty sure that it is not for me.

Here's one for the chart experts: Which other artists have 5 albums each selling over 4 million copies?

Garth Brooks. His first five are:

1. Garth Brooks-1989-diamond
2. No Fences-1990-diamond
3. Ropin' The Wind-1991-diamond
4. The Chase-1992-9 X platinum
5. In Pieces-1993-8 X platinum