Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Logs 17th Week at No. 1 on Billboard 200

Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department notches a 17th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 21), as the set holds atop the list after rushing back to No. 1 a week ago after its deluxe Anthology edition was released on CD and vinyl exclusively at Target. In the tracking week ending Dec. 12, the album earned 240,000 equivalent album units (down 41%) in the U.S., according to Luminate, with over 80% of that sum driven by physical album sales.

Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 chart, ROSÉ’s debut solo album rosie bows at No. 3, TWICE’s Strategy enters at No. 4 and Sabrina Carpenter’s holiday set Fruitcake reenters the chart at No. 10 for its first week in the top 10, after its wide physical release.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Dec. 21, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Dec. 17). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of The Tortured Poets Department’s 240,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 12, traditional album sales comprise 201,000 (down 45%, it holds at No. 1 on Top Album Sales for a 10th nonconsecutive week), SEA units comprise 39,000 (up 6%; equaling 51.04 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it falls 9-10 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (up 27%).

TTPD was initially released on April 19 as a standard 16-song digital download album, as well as in an array of 17-song physical configurations. Two hours after the album dropped, Swift issued an expanded 31-song edition of the album, dubbed The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, which added 15 additional songs. However, the Anthology edition was only available as a digital download and streaming set until Nov. 29, when its CD and vinyl editions became available for purchase exclusively through Target. The Target CD and vinyl additionally boast four bonus acoustic tracks (which were previously released in other alternative versions of the album).

Since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956, Poets is only the 18th album to have spent at least 17 weeks at No. 1, of more than 1,200 leaders. The last album to spend at least 17 weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which logged 19 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 between March 2023 and this March. The last album by a woman to spend at least 17 weeks at No. 1 prior to Poets was Adele’s 21, which earned 24 nonconsecutive weeks on top in 2011-12.

Kendrick Lamar’s former leader GNX is a non-mover at No. 2 on the latest Billboard 200 with 125,000 equivalent album units earned (down 24%). It remains at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums for a third straight week.

ROSÉ’s solo debut album, rosie, launches at No. 3 with 102,000 equivalent album units earned. Pop group BLACKPINK, of which she is a member, has logged a pair of top 10s, including the chart-topping BORN PINK in 2022.

Of the 102,000 equivalent album units earned by rosie in its opening week, album sales comprise 70,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 31,000 (equaling 43.85 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 17 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across more than 15 physical variants of the album across CD and vinyl editions, many including collectible ephemera (some randomized).

The album was led by the single “APT.” with Bruno Mars, which debuted and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart, and has reached the top 30 on Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay and the all-format Radio Songs charts.

TWICE captures its sixth total and consecutive top 10-charting set on the Billboard 200 as STRATEGY debuts at No. 4 with 88,000 equivalent album units earned. It’s the second top 10 for the group in 2024, following their first chart-topper, With YOU-th (March 9-dated chart). Of the new set’s first-week units, album sales comprise 81,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 6,500 (equaling 8.86 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise less than 500 units. The album’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across more than 15 CD and vinyl editions, all inclusive of collectible paper ephemera (some randomized).

Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet is steady at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 (75,000 equivalent album units earned; up 10%); the Wicked film soundtrack falls 3-6 (74,000; down 31%); Michael Bublé’s former leader Christmas is a non-mover at No. 7 (62,000; up 10%); Bing Crosby’s Ultimate Christmas hits a new peak, rising 9-8 (56,000; up 13%); and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft slips 6-9 (56,000; down 6%).

Carpenter captures a second album in the top 10, and the second top 10 of her career, as her holiday effort Fruitcake re-enters the chart at No. 10 (a new peak) following its wide physical release on CD, vinyl and cassette on Dec. 6. In the tracking week ending Dec. 12, Fruitcake earned 54,000 equivalent album units (up 1,040%), with album sales comprising 39,000 (up 27,326%; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales) and SEA units comprising 15,000 (up 210%, equaling 19.65 million on-demand official streams of set’s songs).

Fruitcake was initially released in November 2023 as a digital download album for purchase and through streaming services. It had a limited vinyl release, exclusively through Carpenter’s official webstore in December 2023. On Dec. 6, the album became widely available on CD, cassette and three vinyl variants (including one exclusive to Target).

Carpenter is the sixth artist in 2024 to have at least two albums in the top 10 at the same time. Previously this year, Zach Bryan, Future, Metro Boomin, Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen all notched multiple projects in the top 10 concurrently.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

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