Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl has officially broken the modern-era record for the highest single-week album sales in the United States, surpassing the long-standing mark set by Adele’s 25.
According to initial reports from data tracking firm Luminate, The Life of a Showgirl has already sold over 3.4 million pure copies (both physical and digital), making it the biggest one-week sales total for any album since electronic tracking began in 1991 — the start of the modern era of music data reporting.
Previously, the modern record was held by Adele’s 25, which sold 3.378 million copies during its first week in November 2015.
The album’s impressive debut was powered by 34 different versions — 27 physical formats (18 CDs, eight vinyl editions, and one cassette) and seven digital versions (not including clean and explicit editions available through digital retailers).
Sales were boosted further in the final days of the tracking week thanks to four iTunes-exclusive versions priced at $4.99 each, released one per day from Monday through Thursday. These editions mirrored the four limited-edition CDs Swift had previously released through her webstore, each featuring the album’s 12 tracks plus two unique bonus versions. The iTunes editions contained the same tracklists but included two exclusive voice memos on each version.
Those limited-edition CDs, initially available only through Swift’s webstore, were later offered at select independent record stores.
On Thursday, Swift’s online store also released a digital edition titled The Life of a Showgirl (So Punk on the Internet Version), featuring the album’s 12 songs, six previously released voice memos, and one brand-new recording.
The Life of a Showgirl was released on Friday, October 3, with Luminate’s tracking week running from October 3 to October 9.
Since Luminate began tracking data in 1991, only three albums have sold more than 2 million copies in a single week in the U.S.: No Strings Attached by NSYNC (2000), 25 by Adele (2015), and now The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift.
Fuente: Billboard
