EGN NEWS DESK
How for much longer can Taylor Swift maintain at No. 1 with “The Tortured Poets Department”?
This week she is atop the Billboard 200 album chart for a sixth consecutive time, after a monster debut in April and a collection 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 rely on it slipping down the chart anytime quickly. Swift’s momentum stays robust, she has loads of methods 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 Ok-pop group Ateez, whose final album, opened at No. 1.)
The final album to spend at the least its first six weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” which held the highest for its first 12 weeks final 12 months, then returned to notch a complete of 19. Before that, it was Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” with 10 in 2021. Can Swift attain those self same heights with “Tortured Poets”? (Back in 2020, her “Folklore” was No. 1 for its first six weeks, earlier than logging two additional occasions on the prime.)
In its newest week out, “Tortured Poets” had the equal of 175,000 gross sales within the United States, which included 174 million streams and 41,000 gross sales as a whole package deal, based on 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 Hard and Soft.” But it’s nonetheless performing properly at a time when most different new albums aren’t; to date this 12 months, 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. In the times 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 maintain shopping for them, serving to Swift keep robust on the chart.
Also this week, Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” holds at No. 2 for a second week, whereas the choice duo Twenty One Pilots’ new “Clancy” opens at No. 3 with what Billboard mentioned are the most important numbers for any rock album to date this 12 months: the equal of 143,000 gross sales, together with 113,000 copies offered as a whole package deal.
Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” is No. 4, and his three-and-a-half-year-old “Dangerous” is No. 6. RM, from the Ok-pop supergroup BTS, opens at No. 5 together with his second studio album, “Right Place, Wrong Person.”
