Charts analysis: Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department tops 270,000 sales and outsells Top 75 LPs

Swift’s Swiftest: Exploding to a No.1 debut on consumption of 270,091 units, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) is off to the fastest start of any album for more than seven years, and the fastest of Taylor Swift’s career. Securing the best opening of the 2020s, it opens 32.07% above Swift’s own personal best hitherto which came in 2022, with her last album of new material, Midnights, debuted with 204,501 sales. The last album to make a bigger first impression was Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide), which attracted 671,542 sales on debut in 2017. It also sold more copies than TTPD on its second week (303,520). The last album by an American act to have a bigger first week sale was Scissor Sisters’ second album, Ta-Dah, which sold 288,167 copies on debut in 2006. The previous highest weekly sale achieved by an American female solo artist in the 21st century was 245,911, set by Madonna’s 2000 release Music on its 14th week in the chart in 2000. Swift’s 15th album (including four ‘Taylor’s Versions’ re-recordings of earlier releases), TTPD is her 12th No.1. Drawing level with Madonna as the female solo artist with most No.1 albums, she is only the seventh act in chart history to have 12 No.1 albums, and the fifth solo artist. She went from 0 to 12 quickest – a little under 11 years and six months – eclipsing the 14 years and one month that elapsed between the Beatles first (Please Please Me) and 12th (At The Hollywood Bowl). She has had eight No.1 albums in the 2020s, twice as many as nearest challengers, Drake and Liam Gallagher; more in the last 10 years than any other act (11); and more in the 21st century (12) than all but Robbie Williams (13, including one with Take That). All of her No.1 albums have been studio sets, in which category, in all of chart history, she was previously tied for pole position with The Beatles, Robbie Williams, Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones, but now reigns supreme. 2024 is the sixth year in a row in which she has had at least one No.1 – a record of consistency previous only achieved by the Beatles, who did it eight years in a row (1963-1970). Its deluxe edition housing 31 tracks – all new songs which Swift wrote or co-wrote and co-produced – TTPD was issued in a plethora of variants, and racked up first week sales of 109,392 CDs, 66,388 vinyl albums, 4,457 cassettes, 10.948 digital downloads and 78,907 sales-equivalent streams. It sets a new record for most vinyl sales in a week by any album in the 21st century, surpassing the 61,948 sales set by Midnights on its debut. It also surpasses Midnights’ opening sales-equivalent streams tally of 57,964. The only album to achieve higher sales-equivalent streams in a week is Ed Sheeran’s leviathan ÷ (Divide), whose first week sales of 671,542, including 78,944 from sales-equivalent streams – just 37 more than TTPD - on debut in March 2017. With TTPD lead single Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) debuting atop the singles chart, Swift has done the double for the third time in her career having done so with Midnights/Anti-Hero in 2022 and 1989 (Taylor’s Version)/Is It All Over Now (Taylor’s Version) last year. TTPD sold 3,914 copies more than the rest of the Top 75 combined, and outsold the No.2 album by a ratio of 27.46:1, the highest such margin since Kantar (Millward Brown) started plotting the charts for OCC in 1994. The previous highest was 21.48:1, set in 1997 when Be Here Now topped for Oasis on 695,761 sales, with White On Blonde as No.2 for Texas (32,392 sales). The unit margin of TTPD’s victory this week – 260,256 units – is the greatest since the second week at No.1 for ÷ (Divide), when its sales of 303,520 copies were 272,991 higher than the No.2, Rag’n’Bone Man’s Human. The week before, with both on debut in the same positions, the Sheeran/Rag gulf was an enormous 808,807 (671542 units against 64,735). TTPD enters the year-to-date album chart at No.1, toppling Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (150,885 sales in 2024, 276,861 in total). The role of runners-up to Swift falls to Pearl Jam, whose 12th studio album in a career spanning more than 30 years, Dark Matter (No.2, 9,835 sales), matches their previous highest chart placing as achieved by their second album, Vs in 1993 and their 10th, Lightning Bolt in 2013. In total, Dark Matter is Pearl Jam’s 16th Top 75 and 10th Top 10 entry. Celebrating 45 years of UB40, the Birmingham reggae veterans’ new album, UB45, is a blend of new songs and fresh recordings of some of their best-loved hits. Debuting at No.5 (7,381 sales), it is the 17th Top 10 and 34th Top 75 album chart entry credited to UB40. However, there are two versions of the band. This is the one with direct lineage to the original, with charter members Robin Campbell, Jimmy Brown, Norman Hassan and Earl Falconer. Their last new album prior to UB45 was Bigger Baggariddim, which reached only No.137 in 2021. The rival UB40, set up by disaffected members Ali Campbell (brother of Robin), Mickey Virtue and Astro, reached No.8 in 2022 with most recent album Unprecedented, eight months after Astro’s death. A feature of the calendar since 2008, Record Store Day (RSD) made its usual impression on the charts, most notably returning Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (36-9, 5,459 sales) to the Top 10 after a gap of 69 weeks, following its release on picture disc (1,863 sales) for the first time. Rumours still trails the band’s compilation 50 Years: Don’t Stop, which rebounds 15-8 (5,607 sales) despite having no new RSD edition, and suffering a 0.62% dip in sales to 5,607 in the frame. It appears that Taylor Swift’s new album stole streams from many other artists, but most notably impacted her own back catalogue, with all of her albums suffering reduced consumption of at least 7.83% week-on-week while migrating to lower chart positions. The rest of the Top 10, all with falling consumption: Cowboy Carter (2-3, 8,885 sales) by Beyonce?, The Highlights (6-4, 8,344 sales) by The Weeknd, Guts (7-6, 6,843 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, Stick Season (9-7, 6,508 sales) by Noah Kahan and Gold: Greatest Hits (14-10, 5,291 sales) by Abba. James’ first ever No.1 studio album, Yummy, dives to No.74 (2,127 sales) on its second frame. Also exiting the Top 10 are: Papercuts: Singles Collection 2000-2023 (4-14, 4,689 sales) by Linkin Park, One Deep River (3-33, 3,276 sales) by Mark Knopfler, This Could Be Texas (8-146, 1,416 sales) by English Teacher and – now vacating the Top 200 – last week’s No.5, Halo Effect (542 sales) by Kris Barras Band and last week’s No.10, Hombres (957 sales) by Gun. In an alternative universe, Bruce Springsteen would be claiming his 13th No.1 album or David Bowie his 12th, but we are stuck with the one in which Taylor Swift draws level with Springsteen and ahead of Bowie. Springsteen’s new Best Of debuts at No.15 (4,536 sales), and Bowie’s latest posthumous release, the vinyl only RSD set, Waiting In The Sky (Before The Starman Came), opens at No.16 (4,524 sales). Springsteen has now had 41 Top 75 albums, Bowie 74 (76 including Tin Machine). RSD also impacted the debuts of Pearl Jam and UB40’s new albums, and helped to re-awaken interest in many other catalogue items, including Parklife, Blur’s 1994 chart-topper, now available in a zoetrope vinyl edition (No.16, 5,024 sales); The Dark Side Of The Moon (188-21, 4,176 sales), Pink Floyd’s 1973 No.2 album in a new UV vinyl edition; and Orbital (No.31, 3,675 sales) the eponymous – aka Green album - 1991 debut of the fraternal dance duo – which previously peaked at No.71. Also, Live From Gorilla (No.32, 3,566 sales), the previously uncharted and erstwhile only digital live set from The 1975; Wasteland, Baby! (No.46, 2,660 sales), Hozier’s 2019 No.6 album; and I Was/I Am (No.70, 2,184 sales), Noah Kahan’s previously uncharted second album, dating from 2021. After making their first ever chart entry last October, when their fourth studio album Aces Are High reached No.9, Essex blues rockers When Rivers Meet - husband and wife Aaron and Grace Bond – debut at No.47 (2,656 sales) with Breakers Of Chain Tour Live. This Ain’t The Way You Go Out (No.62, 2,370 sales) is the sixth album and fifth chart entry by folk/indie singer/songwriter Lucy Rose from Surrey. Chappel Roan’s first album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, debuted last week, 29 weeks after its release. With single Good Luck Babe approaching the Top 20, the album now jumps 68-54 (2,458 sales). Now That’s What I Call Music! 117 spends a third week atop the compilation chart (2,817 sales including 2,453 CDs and 364 digital downloads). Overall album sales are up 12.78% week-on-week at 2,702,211, 16.86% above same week 2023 sales of 2,312,355. The last time overall album consumption was higher was in Christmas week 2019 when it was 2,798,545, although consumption was higher in a further 196 earlier weeks in the 20th century, exceeding 10m. on three occasions. Physical product accounts for 558,880 sales, 20.68% of the total. With RSD and Taylor Swift’s new album providing a massive boost to vinyl, sales of that format grew 160.61% week-on-week to 269,134 units – their highest level since their Kantar (Millward Brown) era (1994 onwards) record of 276,935 set last Christmas.

Charts analysis: Hozier secures second week at summit with Too Sweet

It took nearly 10 years to progress from first hit to first No.1 for Hozier, and the Irish singer/songwriter is in no hurry to relinquish his hard-earned crown, with consumption of Too Sweet ramping up a further 17.68% to 71,822 units (1,790 digital downloads and 70,032 sales-equivalent streams) as its logs its second week at the summit. Beverage news: While current Top 10 hits by Hozier, Beyonce and Dasha extol the virtues of whiskey, Sabrina Carpenter’s new hit, Espresso, uses coffee as a metaphor for relationship addiction. It is Carpenter’s fourth hit and first Top 10 entry, debuting at No.6 (40,308 sales). Illusions debuts at No.9 (26,974 sales), becoming Dua Lipa’s 16th Top 10 and 28th Top 75 entry. Her fourth straight Top 10 hit, it is the third from upcoming third album, Radical Optimism. Meanwhile, Perrie (Edwards) – veteran of 45 hits, including 19 Top 10 entries and five No.1s with Little Mix – debuts at No.10 (25,915 sales including 1,283 CDs) with her first solo single, Forget About Us. Little Mix are on extended hiatus at the moment. Her bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock reached No.11 last year with her debut solo single, Don’t Say Love, while former Little Mix member Jesy Nelson reached No.4 with Boyz (feat. Nicki Minaj) in 2021. The band’s other member, Jade Thirwall, has yet to release any solo material. In a Top 10 comprising only solo acts for the second week in a row, there are new peaks for I Like The Way You Kiss Me (5-3, 46,306 sales) by Artemas and Austin (8-7, 32,858 sales) by Dasha. In fact, the highest-ranking hit by anything but a solo act is No.14. The rest of the Top 10: Beautiful Things (2-2, 48,798 sales) by Benson Boone, Lose Control (4-4, 45,167 sales) by Teddy Swims, Texas Hold ‘Em (3-5, 41,237 sales) by Beyonce and We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Love) (7-8, 30,944 sales) by Ariana Grande. End Of Beginning – the first hit by actor Joe Keery as DJO – falls into ACR, and tumbles 6-23 (16,197 sales) as a result. Scared To Start (9-11, 25,617 sales) by Michael Marcagi and Stick Season (10-12, 24,023 sales) by Noah Kahan also exit the Top 10 despite marginal increases in consumption. The Natasha Bedingfield revival is on: Following the recent return to prominence of Unwritten after its use in Anyone But You, Bedingfield’s only No.1, These Words, has been subjected to a ‘stutter house’ remix from Badger. Instantly popular, and credited to Badger & Natasha Bedingfield, it debuted at No.91 last week and now explodes to No.35 (12,907 sales). Badger is DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist Alex Goodger-Marsh from Brighton, and These Words is his first hit. Unwritten re-entered the chart in January, opening its campaign at No.24 and climbing as high as No.12, and has proved astonishingly stable and resilient ever since. It dips 15-18 (18,473 sales) this week – its 14th in a row in a narrow range between No.12 and No.18. Also new to the Top 75: Tell UR Girlfriend (92-31, 13,697 sales), the first hit for 19-year-old American rapper Lay Bankz – real name Layia Watkins; A Bar Song (Tipsy) (No.41, 11,621 sales), the first hit for 28-year-old Shaboozey, an American rapper/singer of Nigerian descent combining country and rap influences; Kiki (What Would Drizzy Say) (No.46, 10,809 sales), the 51st hit for D-Block Europe; and We Still Don’t Trust You (No.49, 10,357 sales), the title track of rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin’s second album in less than a month, providing Future’s 32nd hit, Metro Boomin’s 20th, and their sixth together. Climbing for the sixth straight week since its No.71 debut, Happier becomes the first Top 20 hit for The Blessed Madonna and the second for Clementine Douglas, jumping 21-17 (18,688 sales). There are also new peaks for: Belong Together (14-13, 23,004 sales) by Mark Ambor, I Don’t Wanna Wait (37-25, 15,320 sales) by David Guetta & OneRepublic, Good Luck Babe (64-33, 13,231 sales) by Chappell Roan, Jump (43-38, 12,094 sales) by Tyla, Gunna & Skillibeng and Feel It (59-58, 9,025 sales) by D4vd. To mark the 30th anniversary of its original release, Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, has been released in new CD and 7-inch editions. After a brisk start which saw it at No.1 on the first of the week’s sales flashes on Saturday and No.6 on Sunday, it fell steadily throughout the week. In the final chart for the first time since 1996, it cannot, however, surpass its original 1994 No.31 peak, re-emerging at No.42 (11,559 sales). It is No.2 CD (1,206 sales) and No.1 vinyl (6,255 sales). 25 singles by Oasis have higher – Top 30 – chart peaks than Supersonic but it is the band’s sixth most-consumed song, with a to-date tally of 1,168,103 units. The release of Back To Black - director Sam Taylor-Wood’s new Amy Winehouse biopic - triggered a 55-22 (4,645 sales) jump for Winehouse’s 2006 album of the same name, and singles chart re-entries for Valerie (with Mark Ronson, No.44, 11,324 sales) and Back To Black (No.51, 9,983 sales). It is the highest position for the album since August 2021, and for the singles since 2008 and 2011, respectively. Viral activity and a new dance remix by Cyril propel Chicago metal band Disturbed’s biggest hit, Simon & Garfunkel cover The Sound Of Silence, back onto the chart eight years to the week since its debut. Peaking at No.29 in 2016, it returns at No.47 on consumption of 10,680 units. Its overall consumption rises to 1,264,462 units, more than twice that of Disturbed’s second most popular track, the uncharted 2000 single, Down With The Sickness (626,272 sales). Here Comes The Sun this week became the first song by The Beatles to achieve digital era consumption of more than 2m. units. Written by George Harrison for the Beatles’ penultimate album, Abbey Road, it was never released as a single, and wasn’t even Harrison’s most acclaimed contribution to the album, with critics instead hailing Something. However, Here Comes The Sun has gained significantly in popularity over the years, and finally charted – at No.64 - in November 2010, immediately after the historic release of The Beatles’ catalogue on iTunes. It was one of four Beatles tracks to make the Top 75 that week, and one of 32 to make the Top 200. It subsequently returned to the chart in 2012 reaching No.58 in response to a Marks & Spencer TV campaign which featured a cover version of the track by Gary Barlow. Here Comes The Sun’s total digital consumption of 2,004,382 units (including a 42-week high 7,147 in the latest frame) is significantly more than any other Beatles song, with Let It Be (1,102,720), Come Together (990,526), Hey Jude (978,352) and Twist And Shout (866,714) completing the Top 5. Here Comes The Sun is also The Beatles’ No.1 on paid-for digital sales, with 189,194, ahead of Hey Jude (178,458). Overall Beatles’ digital track consumption to 11 April of 27,539,323 includes 3,284,431 paid-for sales. Here Comes The Sun is the third most-consumed track from the 1960s in the digital age (and the 260th most-consumed track in total), trailing only Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (2,086,012 sales, 1967, never a hit but No.90 earlier this year) by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell and Brown Eyed Girl (2,044,386 sales, 1967 but uncharted until 2013 when it reached No.60) by Van Morrison. A track from The Beatles self-titled 1967 album (also called The White Album) that was also never a single, Blackbird this week became their ninth single to go platinum in the digital age, ending the week on consumption of 603,586 units. Here Comes The Sun has been recorded and released either for sale or streaming by more than 1,300 artists, while a minimum of 1,800 versions of Blackbird have been recorded. These figures exist nowhere else but here but can be proven. Another Beatles song never released as a single, In My Life, from 1965 album Rubber Soul, has also prospered in the digital age, becoming the band’s sixth most consumed track (682,960 units). Overall singles consumption is up 2.69% week-on-week to 29,156,712 units, 11.62% above same week 2023 consumption of 26,121,536 units. Paid-for sales are down 1.12% week-on-week at 265,306 – 10.01% below same week 2023 sales of 294,808.

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