Taylor Swift and Jay-Z Ties Become the Most Billboard 200 No.1 Albums by a Solo Artist
Taylor Swift has achieved another milestone with her latest album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. This ties Taylor with Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums by a solo artist in the chart’s nearly 70-year history with 14, second only to The Beatles with 19.
‘The Tortured Poets Department’ recorded an astonishing 2.61 million equivalent album units in the US in its first week ending April 25. Of these, traditional album sales were 1.914 million units, including a notable 859,000 vinyl sales. The album’s deluxe edition, which contained 31 songs, collected 891.34 million on-demand official streams, the largest streaming week ever for an album.
These figures represent the second-highest week for an album (by total equivalent album units earned) since measurement by units began in December 2014. This is the third-largest sales week in the modern era (since electronically tracking sales began in 1991), and the largest sales week for an album on vinyl. Also read – Kanye West is facing another Discrimination Charge
Released on April 19, the album initially came as a standard 16-song digital download and 17-song physical configuration. Swift later expanded the album to a 31-song version, described as a “secret double album” that included “tortured poetry” written over the past two years.
With its record-breaking sales, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ has become the best-selling album of 2024 so far, overtaking its nearest rival, Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’. The release of the Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish album is scheduled for next month.
Taylor’s reaction
Taylor Swift wrote on her official I am completely overwhelmed by the love you have shown to this album. 2.6 million are you serious?? Thank you for listening, streaming, and welcoming Poets into your lives and feeling completely overwhelmed. I was already so excited to go back on tour but you’re doing this?? “May 9th can’t come soon enough (white heart emoji).”
The new album also received its fair share of criticism. So much so that one publication had to remove its author’s byline after Swifties posted a negative review. But Taylor Swift isn’t bothered by the negativity.
Travis Kelce’s Mom Praises Taylor’s The Tortured Poets Department
“I listened to the whole album, and when it came out I listened to it until the morning,” the mother of Super Bowl-winning athlete Travis Kelce recently told People magazine at the Age of Possibility summit in Las Vegas.
“I was very impressed,” Donna said. Donna further added that Taylor is a talented woman and that The Tortured Department Poets is the best album Taylor ever created.
When the outlet later asked the football star’s mother if she had any life advice for the singer growing up, she dismissed the idea, saying, “She doesn’t need my advice on anything. In fact, I expect she’ll give me advice.”
Taylor mentioned Travis in her Songs
Of the songs on Taylor Swift’s new album that seem to hint at her romance with Travis, the strongest nods to the NFL star are in her songs “The Alchemy” and “So High School.”
In “The Alchemy” the singer uses several football references in her lyrics. Taylor Swift sings, “So when I touch down, call the amateurs and cut them from the team / ditch the clown, take the crown.”
“Take off the shirt, and your friends will lift you over the head / Beers spilled on the floor, cheers chanted because they saying /‘There was no chance trying to be the greatest in the league’ / Where’s the trophy? He just comes, running over to me,”
Swift sings, alluding to Travis reuniting with her on the field after his big Super Bowl win.
In “So High School”, the Grammy-winner sings about what a new love feels like in “So High School” and references a prior interview with Travis where he was asked to choose Taylor, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande to whom he would like to marry, kiss and kill. The chiefs selected Taylor his future girlfriend for the kiss.
Swift sings on the track,”Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me (Kill me) / It’s just a game, but really (Really) / I’m bettin’ on all three for us two (All three),”