Taylor Swift’s latest album, named The Life of a Showgirl, has achieved remarkable success by selling four million equivalent album units in its debut week in the United States. This achievement marks the largest first-week sales in modern music history, as reported by Luminate, a notable industry data and analytics company that has been tracking sales since 1991.
Surpassing Adele’s record set by 25 in 2015, Taylor Swift’s album garnered a total of 3,479,500 copies in pure album sales during its first week after its release on October 3. This milestone also elevates Swift as the solo artist with the highest number of No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, boasting a total of 15 chart-topping albums. She now stands closely behind the Beatles, who hold the record with 19 No. 1 albums.
Taylor Swift’s history-making trend with The Life of a Showgirl commenced immediately upon its release, with the album selling an impressive 2.7 million copies in traditional album sales on its first day alone. Her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, also made waves by accumulating 2.61 million equivalent album units during its debut week in 2024.
One key factor contributing to Swift’s immense success is the diverse range of variants in which she released her album. These include exclusive editions available at Target, such as three unique CDs named It’s Frightening, It’s Rapturous, and It’s Beautiful, along with a special vinyl release titled The Crowd Is Your King. Additionally, various other vinyl variants like The Tiny Bubble in Champagne Collection, The Baby That’s Show Business Collection, and The Shiny Bug Collection, including standard LP and cassette versions in unique “sweat and vanilla perfume Portofino orange vinyl,” were made available.
According to Luminate, The Life of a Showgirl achieved a new record by selling 1.2 million copies of its vinyl album in the U.S. within the first day of its release, surpassing the previous record set by The Tortured Poets Department with 859,000 copies sold on vinyl in its debut week.
Dominating the Billboard charts once again, every song from The Life of a Showgirl made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100, securing the top 12 spots on the chart dated October 18. This accomplishment marks Swift’s 13th No. 1 hit on the chart and her third instance of holding the entire top 10 positions, a feat no other artist has achieved before.
Following the groundbreaking sales news, Taylor Swift is set to launch two new projects on Disney+. The first project, a six-episode docuseries titled Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: The End of an Era, will provide a behind-the-scenes look at her acclaimed Eras Tour. The initial two episodes of the docuseries are scheduled to premiere on December 12.
In addition, Swift will present another project titled Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: The Final Show, a concert film incorporating sections from The Tortured Poets Department, which was filmed during her performance in Vancouver. This project differs from her 2023 concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, filmed at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, which preceded the release of The Tortured Poets Department.
