The first week results are in for Taylor Swift’s much anticipated seventh studio album, Lover.
Swift and her label partners Universal Music Group and Republic Records have gone all out with the promotion of Lover, which was released last Friday (August 23), across multiple formats.
Heavy duty marketing of the album has included a tie-up with Amazon, which saw the record promoted on cardboard boxes delivered to homes by the retail giant. In addition, unique and exclusive Lover-related content has been gifted to streaming partners like Spotify, YouTube and others. Physical US retailer Target, meanwhile, is selling exclusive deluxe versions of the album.
The result of this all-encompassing effort? According to Republic, Swift’s new album has just achieved the biggest first-week total for any album in the US since her own Reputation was released in November 2017.
Globally, Lover has surpassed more than 3 million in consumption, says Republic, while in the US it has eclipsed 1 million-plus total consumption year-to-date (including singles released ahead of the album itself).
(As MBW reported earlier today, the album has nailed a million-plus in equivalent sales in China alone.)
According to Republic, Lover is “approaching 700k in pure album sales this week” in the States.
Billboard reported in 2017 that Reputation sold 1.24 million equivalent album units in its first week in the US, with 1.22m of this number claimed by ‘pure’ sales. Of these pure week-one Reputation sales, 507,000 were physical, with a further 709,000 digital downloads.
(Midyear Nielsen stats show that industry-wide US physical album sales have fallen 31% in the two years since 2017 – the year Reputation was released.)
On Spotify, tracks from Lover have been streamed 600 million times to date. In addition, music videos for preview singles “ME!” (259m) and “You Need To Calm Down” (125m) are nearing half-a-billion views between them on YouTube.
Outside the US, Lover has hit No.1 on market charts including those in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the U.K. and more.
Republic Records Founder & CEO Monte Lipman said: “Taylor’s brilliant body of work has shattered industry metrics around the world.
“Lover is clearly her most acclaimed album to date. Her honesty and vulnerability poured into this album has created a masterpiece.”Music Business Worldwide
