Republic’s Taylor Swift is a unicorn. Any record that did 596k its first week—the year’s second-biggest debut, after labelmate Drake—would be a massive story; that the album in question, Red (Taylor’s Version), is a re-recording of a set from 2012 is, honestly, mind-blowing. Needless to say, Red (TV) is #1 on the HITS Top 50 this week.
Meanwhile, a 10-minute reworking of the album's “All Too Well," which Swift performed in its entirety on Saturday Night Live as the song's short-film accompaniment flickered in the background, was the most-streamed track of the week, with 39m.
But she's also selling vinyl like hotcakes, now claiming three of the Top 5 LP-sales weeks in modern history (though Adele is likely to usurp one of those momentarily). Vinyl sales of Red (TV) broke the current-day vinyl sales record set by Swift's evermore when it posted 102k in June.
Nor was Swift’s massive week limited to this latest re-recording. As we speak, she has six albums on the Top 50 chart thanks to fans spurred by the release of Red (TV) to revisit her entire catalog; this year's Fearless (TV), 2020's evermore and folklore, 2019's Lover and 2010's Speak Now (powered by a viral “Enchanted”) are all living large in the Top 40.
And Red (TV) isn’t the only Republic horse in the front of the pack. House Lipman has three other titles in the Top 6: TWICE’s Formula of Love: 3 (JYP/Imperial) at #3, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (OVO) at #5 and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous (Big Loud) at #6.
Streeting this week is Adele's 30 (Columbia), which we’ve heard could be big.
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