How for much longer can Taylor Swift maintain at No. 1 with “The Tortured Poets Division”?
This week she is atop the Billboard 200 album chart for a sixth consecutive time, after a monster debut in April and a sequence of challenges — every handily fended off — from Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and the rapper Gunna. The numbers for “Tortured Poets” at the moment are cooling barely, however don’t depend on it slipping down the chart anytime quickly. Swift’s momentum stays sturdy, she has loads of tips up her sleeve and doesn’t face a lot celebrity competitors within the close to future, pending any shock drops. (On subsequent week’s chart, Swift will compete with the Okay-pop group Ateez, whose final album, opened at No. 1.)
The final album to spend at the very least its first six weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s “One Factor at a Time,” which held the highest for its first 12 weeks final yr, then returned to notch a complete of 19. Earlier than that, it was Wallen’s “Harmful: The Double Album,” with 10 in 2021. Can Swift attain those self same heights with “Tortured Poets”? (Again in 2020, her “Folklore” was No. 1 for its first six weeks, earlier than logging two additional instances on the prime.)
In its newest week out, “Tortured Poets” had the equal of 175,000 gross sales in the USA, which included 174 million streams and 41,000 gross sales as a whole bundle, in accordance with the monitoring service Luminate. That complete is down 54 % from the week earlier than, when Swift went head-to-head with Eilish’s new “Hit Me Arduous and Smooth.” However it’s nonetheless performing effectively at a time when most different new albums aren’t; up to now this yr, common opening-week gross sales for a non-Taylor Swift No. 1 album are about 131,000.
Swift has additionally demonstrated a extremely efficient technique in releasing successive “variations” of her albums. Within the days earlier than final week’s chart, when she was competing with Eilish, Swift launched six restricted digital editions with bonus tracks. Over the weekend, she introduced two CDs, every with an unique acoustic observe. Week after week, followers preserve shopping for them, serving to Swift keep sturdy on the chart.
Additionally this week, Eilish’s “Hit Me Arduous and Smooth” holds at No. 2 for a second week, whereas the choice duo Twenty One Pilots’ new “Clancy” opens at No. 3 with what Billboard stated are the most important numbers for any rock album up to now this yr: the equal of 143,000 gross sales, together with 113,000 copies offered as a whole bundle.
Wallen’s “One Factor at a Time” is No. 4, and his three-and-a-half-year-old “Harmful” is No. 6. RM, from the Okay-pop supergroup BTS, opens at No. 5 along with his second studio album, “Proper Place, Incorrect Individual.”
