Taylor Swift shatters first-week album sales record with ‘The Life of a Showgirl’- 4 million units sold in one week
The Life of a Showgirl is already an undeniable success for Taylor Swift, with first-week sales records securing her legacy in both the US and UK.
As we said last week: Taylor Swift and record-breaking go hand in hand these days, and her latest album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is no exception. Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ has taken over the charts, and the headlines, as her latest album has smashed first-week sales records.
After hitting a series of Spotify milestones just days after the album’s release, Swift’s latest first-week sales prove her enduring success is only growing stronger.
A historic first week in the US
Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ is officially the biggest album debut in US history. According to Billboard, the album sold a whopping 4.002 million units in its first week. Of those, 3.48 million came from pure album sales, with streaming contributing another 522,600.
Those figures were enough to dethrone Adele’s ‘25’, which had held the record since 2015 with 3.482 million first-week sales.
Swift also landed her 15th No.1 album on the Billboard 200, making her the solo artist with the most No.1 albums in US history. She surpassed a tie with Drake and Jay-Z in the process, leaving only The Beatles that sit ahead of her with 19 No.1 albums.
It’s also a massive leap from Swift’s previous first-week record of 2.61 million units from her previous album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’. Of course, this figure was already remarkable, but an increase of nearly 1.5 million units is still staggering.
Swift took to Instagram to celebrate the achievement, thanking fans for “immersing yourselves in The Life of Showgirl”:
UK success too as the album tops charts
In the UK, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ achieved similar commercial success. The album debuted at No.1 on the UK album chart, marking Swift’s 14th UK chart-topping album.
With 432,000 first-week sales, it’s the second highest debut for an album in the UK, falling short of Ed Sheeran’s ‘÷’ (Divide) which sold 672,000 units in its first week in 2017.
Swift now holds the third most UK No.1 albums, trailing only The Beatles and Robbie Williams. They both hold 15 No.1 albums each, but given Swift’s current output of No.1 records, it could just be a matter of time until she overtakes them.
Her achievements didn’t stop there. ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ also claimed the biggest first-week vinyl sales in the UK since modern chart records began in 1994, and the most UK album streams in a single week.
What about the album’s release party film?
Alongside the album, Swift launched a global release party film. Her event film matched the No.1 success of the album, topping the global box office during its three-day run. The film pulled in roughly $34 million across US theaters and $13 million internationally, totaling close to $50 million.
That’s certainly not a bad weekend’s earnings for a one-off film designed purely to mark an album launch.
Another milestone moment for Swift
At this point, each Taylor Swift release is almost guaranteed to break records. Every album release feels like a global event, blending music and marketing into a cultural spectacle in a way that very few artists can replicate.
With ‘The Life of a Showgirl’, Swift is further cementing her legacy as one of the best-selling artists of all time.