Taylor Swift's History Breaking 1989 Tops The Charts With 1.287 Million Albums Sold

NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Global superstar and seven-time GRAMMY winner Taylor Swift's critically acclaimed new album 1989 (Big Machine Records) earns massive sales of 1.287 million albums (SoundScan), debuts at #1 on the charts and marks the only time an artist has sold over one million albums on release week for a third time (2010's Speak Now with 1.05 million, 2012's RED with 1.21 million and 2014's 1989 with 1.287 million). 1989 is the only album this year to sell over a million albums and comprised 22% of the overall total of albums sold this year.

"I was told to keep my expectations low because album sales were in decline, no one had sold over a million albums this year and the last time it happened on release week was with my album RED in 2012," said Taylor Swift. "I was told my optimism was naive. I was told it was risky to change creative directions. I was told my album wouldn't sell if it didn't have my entire face on it. I listened to my intuition instead of all those voices. I'm so proud that my fans were able to show the world that art is important and is still valuable to them."

1989 BY THE NUMBERS

• Taylor Swift's fourth #1 album to top Billboard Top 200 albums chart
• 1989 sold 1.287 million copies in one week
• Marks the largest selling week for any artist since 2002
• 1989 comprised 22% of the entire album market this week
• Its debut week sales sold more than the last eight #1 debuting albums on the Billboard Top 200 chart
• 1989 marks the largest week for a physical album since Taylor's last album RED was released in 2012
• 1989 is the 19^th album to sell a million copies in a week since the inception of SoundScan in 1991
• Taylor sold more than two copies of 1989 every second

Taylor recently announced THE 1989 WORLD TOUR, which is produced and promoted by AEG Live & The Messina Group (TMG) and kicks off on May 20, 2015 in Louisiana. THE 1989 WORLD TOUR features Vance Joy supporting all North American dates while Shawn Mendes is set to support all stadium dates in North America. THE 1989 WORLD TOUR will encompass eight countries and span four continents including North America, Europe, Australia and Asia**. The first tickets for the North American leg will go on-sale to the general public on November 14^th. American Express® Card Members and members of TaylorSwift.com will have access to purchase tickets in advance beginning November 7^th*. General ticketing and on-sale information will be available at TaylorSwift.com.

Taylor Swift is the only artist in history to have three million-selling weeks (2010's Speak Now, 2012's RED and 2014's 1989). Taylor is a global superstar and seven-time GRAMMY winner, and the youngest winner in history of the music industry's highest honor, the GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year. She is the first artist since the Beatles (and the only female artist in history) to log six or more weeks at #1 in the U.S. with three consecutive studio albums. Taylor has an album on Rolling Stone's prestigious The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time (by women) list, Time magazine has named her one the of the 100 Most Influential People in the world, and she is Billboard's youngest-ever Woman of the Year and the only artist to have been awarded this honor twice. Taylor has career record sales in excess of 30 million albums and almost 80 million song downloads worldwide, and has had singles top both the pop and country radio charts around the globe. Taylor's album RED (Big Machine Records), released two years ago, sold more than 1.2 million copies in the U.S. in its first week and has only been topped by sales of her fifth studio album, 1989, which sold 1.287 million albums release week. 1989 is the highest selling release since 2002. "Shake It Off," the first single off her critically acclaimed fifth studio album 1989, topped Billboard's Pop, HotAC and Hot 100 charts and has earned double Platinum-status by the RIAA for exceeding sales of two million downloads in the U.S. 1989 topped the Billboard Top 200 charts and iTunes' sales charts in 95 countries on its release and was the highest selling release of 2014. Her current single, "Blank Space," tops the Hot 100 chart.

THE 1989 WORLD TOUR

* American Express Presales vary by market so please check your local listings.
** Additional shows will be announced in Asia and Australia

 For more information on The 1989 World Tour or Taylor Swift please visit TaylorSwift.com or follow her on Facebook, Google +, Instagram, LINE, Tumblr and Twitter

SOURCE Big Machine Records

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