Features
Taylor Swift ‘reputation:’ 1.1M Sold, Streams 27M First Week
In just six days, Taylor Swift sold more than 1.1 million copies of her new reputation album in the U.S., which was released Nov. 11 and followed by the announcement of 27 North American stadium dates as the first leg of what is certain to be a blockbuster world tour.
Darron Cummings/AP – Taylor Swift
Eve of the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The data, which counts sales from Nov. 10-15, comes from Buzz Angle Music, which also reports that Swift has racked up more than 27 million streams of the album.
Since reputation’s first single, the total project has more than 482 million total streams.
For perspective, recent No. 1 album sales as tallied by Pollstar’s Elite 100 Artists Chart include Kenny Chesney (223,000), Sam Smith (251,000), and Shania Twain (196,000) in their first weeks of release.
Some of those first-week album sales totals count ticket sales, as a redeemable copy of the album comes with a concert ticket. That’s not the case with Taylor, however, with her own Verified Fan program through Ticketmaster currently registering fans through Nov. 28 for an as-yet-announced presale. The general onsale is Dec. 13.
Adele still has the biggest release in recent years, with her 25 album from 2015 selling just under 3.5 million copies in its first week. Taylor’s 2014 album, 1989, sold more than 1.2 million copies in its first week of release and was the biggest first-week seller since 2002 according to Nielsen.
“When you look at the genesis of Taylor Swift, it’s an incredible story,” John Page, President of the Wells Fargo Complex and longtime head of Spectra (aka Global Spectrum – the second largest venue management firm in North America with its own share of stadiums) told Pollstar just before the “reputation Stadium Tour” was announced.
“She’s really one of the true, iconic artists of our day. You look at her ability to start and be a trademark country artist and then cross over to the extent that she has, and maintain that fan base, and everything she does from a social media perspective, it’s almost a playbook on how to do things the right way.
On the radio side, Swift racked up 250,071 radio spins according to Mediabase with more than 1.3 billion Total Audience Spins.
Other big releases in 2017 include Ed Sheeran‘s Divide album, which sold more than 500,000 copies in its first week when it dropped in March, as well as Pink‘s Beautiful Trauma, which dropped in October selling more than 450,000 copies in its first week. Pink also announced a huge tour, including a whole mess of dates in Australia where she’s immensely popular.
Swift’s tour will be produced and presented by Messina Touring Group and AEG Presents in North America, with Live Nation handling yet-to-be-announced overseas dates.
Dates include May 8 at University of Phoenix Stadium, May 12 at Levi’s Stadium, May 25 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, July 10 at Fedex Field in Washington, D.C., Aug. 4 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Sept. 8 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and Oct. 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Swift’s first single from the new album, “Look What You Made Me Do,” smashed records with more than 10 million streams in one day, the most-streamed song in a one-day period ever. Swift is also the only artist to have three albums sell more than 1 million copies in their first week of release, with Speak Now in 2010, Red in 2012 and 2014’s 1989.
In terms of her future, Page is sanguine: “I think you’re going to see some new people, based on some of the songs that I’ve heard,” he said, “but I think her audience will continue to expand. I think you’ll get the younger demo as well as the older fanbase as well. I think she crosses so many generations, the people that have grown up with her, in my opinion. My daughter, my wife and other people I know still think so highly of her that no matter what she puts out they’re going to listen to it and they want to go see her live.”