Physical media not dead? Taylor Swift album sells 800,000 vinyl records, the 5th-highest selling album since 1991

Taylor Swift spawned an anomaly in record sales, selling nearly one million vinyl copies of her latest album "The Tortured Poets Department," which was also one of the best-selling albums in over 30 years.

The latest drop from Swift had fans in a frenzy to pick up collectible versions of her album across different formats. The singer released nine different iterations on CD, six on vinyl, and even four different styles on cassettes.

Fans got their money's worth for the 31-song album, as Swift's physical media play paid off massively. She sold a combined 1.6 million albums in just one week across all formats, including digital downloads, CD, vinyl, and cassette.

Typically, this would be written off as a number that is almost entirely made up of digital sales only. However, as Billboard reported, vinyl represented at least half of those sales with 800,000 sold.

Swift's week of sales also landed her in the fifth all-time spot for album sales since 1991. The top spot on that list belongs to Adele, who sold 3.38 million albums for "25" in 2015. Second and third place are held by *NSYNC, which sold 2.42 million in 2000 ("No Strings Attached") and 1.88 million in 2001 ("Celebrity").

The numbers put Swift fewer than 200,000 sales behind Eminem's 2000 record "The Marshall Mathers LP" that sold 1.76 million its first week.

The album's record-setting did not stop there. With 799 million on-demand official streams between April 19-24, 2024 (U.S. only), Swift now has the biggest streaming week for an album in America ever, which was set by Drake's "Scorpion" in 2018 with 745.92 million.

Swift's album could serve as a lesson on how large brands or artists can capitalize on the growing nostalgia marketplace, coupled with the ever-growing sector of collectibles and their resale.

While DVD sales have "circled the drain" for many years, according to Variety, select artists are attempting to capitalize on a resurgence of physical media with dedicated fans. Although Swift's numbers and fan dedication means she could likely sell anything, there has been significant backlash against the elimination of physical sales in several industries.

In the realm of video games, for example, companies have faced backlash for removing digital products without notice, leaving customers with nothing to show for their purchase.

Director Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight," "Oppenheimer") also criticized digital media for this very reason in an interview with IGN. Nolan explained that access to digital products often relies on the status of a distributor's relationship with the platform providing access to the media.

"If you buy a [DVD], you buy a Blu-Ray, it's on your shelf, it's yours. No company is going to break into your house and take it from you, repossess it; you know it's yours and and you own it," Nolan explained. "That's never really the case with any form of digital distribution. You're relying on the continued health of the supplier, the company who's supplying."

There could be a "whiff of nostalgia in play" for Swift, says entertainment writer Christian Toto. "It could also be a growing distrust of our digital age," he theorized.

Pop culture critic Natasha Biase added that it's time for right-wing commentators to stop brushing Swift off if they hope to win the culture war.

"Taylor Swift’s track record proves that anything she touches turns to gold. She has undeniable influence and embracing an inoffensive and moderately conservative pop star like Swift is a winning tactic in 2024," Biase told Blaze News.

As of April 29, 2024, Swift became the first artist to occupy the entire top 14 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!