Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” has taken the music industry by storm, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart and breaking numerous records in its first week. This marks Swift’s 14th debut at the top of the chart, tying her with Jay-Z for the solo artist with the most No. 1 albums. However, she still has a ways to go to catch up to The Beatles, who have 19 chart-topping albums. The album racked up an impressive 2.61 million equivalent album units, with a significant portion coming from traditional album sales.
In just one week, “The Tortured Poets Department” has become the top-selling album of the year, surpassing Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” by a wide margin. Swift expressed her gratitude on social media, stating that she was blown away by the overwhelming support from her fans. More than half of the equivalent album units came from traditional album sales, with Billboard reporting that 1.914 million units were from purchases of digital download albums, CDs, vinyls, and cassettes.
With the success of her latest album, Forbes estimates Swift’s net worth to be around $1.1 billion as of Sunday. The pop star achieved billionaire status last October, largely due to the success of her Eras Tour, which made history by grossing $1 billion. Fans are now eagerly awaiting to see if Swift will incorporate any songs from “The Tortured Poets Department” into her ongoing tour, which resumes on May 9 in Paris. While Swift did add a track from her re-released album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” to her setlist, it remains to be seen if she will make any changes for this latest album.
“The Tortured Poets Department” was released as a double album, with 15 additional songs added after its initial release. The album delves into themes of grief, heartbreak, and coping with fame, receiving mixed reviews from critics. While Rolling Stone praised the album as “wildly ambitious and gloriously chaotic,” the New York Times criticized Swift’s lack of editing, suggesting that the themes and sonic backdrops generate diminishing returns. Despite the reviews, the album has shattered numerous streaming and sales records, including being the first album on Spotify to surpass 1 billion streams, the most-sold vinyl album in a week, and the most-streamed album on Amazon Music in its first day alone.
