With the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift became the first female artist to simultaneously have four albums in the Top 10 on Billboard’s list. Her newest record broke all records for the highest numbers this year. It’s just the third time in Billboard’s six-decade history of an album chart that a female artist has topped the list, and she’s the first to do so.
Taylor Swift goes straight to No. 1 in the U.K. https://t.co/IP4PZ7AybG
— billboard (@billboard) July 17, 2023
Swift has three more albums in the top 10 at the moment, with Midnights at No. 5 (2022), ‘over at No. 7 (2019), and Folklore at No. 10 (2020). Swift surpassed the record for the most No. 1 albums by a female artist as well. She now has 12, one more than Barbra Streisand, with whom she was previously tied at 11.
In honor of the album’s July 7 release, the Grammy winner said on Instagram, “It’s here. It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s ours. It’s an album I wrote alone about the whims, fantasies, heartaches, dramas, and tragedies I lived out as a young woman between 18 and 20. I remember making tracklist after tracklist, obsessing over the right way to tell the story. I had to be ruthless with my choices, and I left behind some songs I am still unfailingly proud of now. Therefore, you have 6 From The Vault tracks!”
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Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is also her biggest debut of the three re-recordings released to date by Swift, as she attempts to re-record all the albums she originally recorded for Big Machine. With an initial gross of $605,000 in late 2021, Red (Taylor’s Version) has jumped to second position. The first installment in this series, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) , debuted to a considerably more modest 291,000 in early 2021, a figure that may be explained in part by the fact that the much sought-after vinyl edition was not available.
In a time when most No. 1 albums gain virtually all of their power from streaming, sales were a significant contributor to the overall Speak Now total. The record really sold 507,000 copies in its first week. According to Billboard, it was the second-biggest week for a vinyl record since SoundScan started keeping track in 1991.
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On May 5, Swift announced the album’s upcoming release and started accepting pre-orders for Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on her official website. The album was made available in many different formats, including digital download, CD, cassette, and three different colored vinyl LPs (orchid marbled, violet marbled, and a lilac marbled hue available only at Target). Billboard also notes that her Speak Now sales of 716,000 units is the fifth-largest debut in the previous five years. Four of the top five largest debuts are Swift albums, with Adele’s 30 coming in at No. 4 and slightly ahead of Speak Now.
References:
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