Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
So, when exactly did Emma Stone fall in love with longtime friend Taylor Swift? When the two superstars were just teenagers, as it turns out! In a New Year’s Day The Graham Norton Show interview (Jan. 1), Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone opened up about her friendship with Swift, her Eras Tour experiences and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vault track “When Emma Falls In Love.”
Stone, who won the best actress Oscar for her performance in 2016’s La La Land, revealed that she has attended the Eras Tour “three [times] so far,” including the tour’s opening show in her hometown of Phoenix, Ariz. “Mandy Moore, who was the choreographer of La La Land, was [Taylor’s] choreographer for the tour,” Stone explained. “So it was a bunch of lovely things all come together, and it was incredible to see.”
Moore’s choreography and Stone’s performance were two key elements that resulted in La La Land’s resounding success. At the 2017 Academy Awards, the Damien Chazelle-helmed film won six awards from 14 total nominations, a haul that helped the movie join All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997) as the most nominated films in Oscar history. Thanks to the La La Land soundtrack, Emma Stone is a Billboard-charting artist; “City of Stars,” her duet with co-star Ryan Gosling, reached both Digital Song Sales (No. 45) and the Bubbling Under Hot 100 (No. 8).
Nonetheless, Stone and Swift’s story stretches back years prior to their high-profile successes. According to Stone, the two met “at the Young Hollywood Awards when [she] was 18 in L.A.” She continued, “We just kept in touch ever since and became great friends.”
The most devoted Swifties have been well aware of the Stone-Swift friendship, and that knowledge provided the basis of fan theories regarding “When Emma Falls In Love,” a vault track from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Some fans believe that Stone is the titular Emma, but, for her part, the Easy A actress says, “You have to ask [Taylor]!” Naturally, her response drew hearty laughs from both the audience and her fellow Graham Norton guests, including Poor Things co-star Mark Ruffalo.
Watch Emma Stone spill all the Taylor Swift tea above.
Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated July 29). It’s the first time a re-recorded Swift album has spent its first two weeks at No. 1. The pop superstar’s re-recorded Fearless and Red each bowed at No. 1 in 2021, and then fell from the top slot in their second frames — though the former returned to No. 1 six months later after its release on vinyl and signed CD.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) earned 121,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending July 20 (down 83%), according to Luminate.
Swift leads a quiet top 10, where the region hosts zero debuts for the first time in six months. The top 10 was last absent of debuts on the Jan. 28-dated list, when SZA’s SOS led the chart for a sixth week.
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 July 29, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (July 25). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 121,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending July 20, SEA units comprise 73,000 (down 65%, equaling 95.6 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 22 songs), album sales comprise 47,000 (down 91%) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 72%).
For a second week in a row, Swift has four albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. A week ago, she became the first living artist to chart four albums in the top 10 at the same time since 1966. On the latest chart, those same four sets (all former No. 1s) are still in the top 10, as Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is joined by Midnights (rising 5-4 with 51,000 units; down 7%), Lover (7-6 with 44,000; down 2%) and Folklore (a non-mover at No. 10 with 34,000; up 5%).
Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 One Thing at a Time is stationary at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 105,000 equivalent album units (up 2%). One Thing at a Time has earned in excess of 100,000 equivalent album units in all 20 of its chart weeks. It extends its own record as the album with the most weeks of 100,000-plus units since the Billboard 200 began ranking titles by units in December of 2014.
Peso Pluma’s Génesis returns to its peak, rising 4-3 (55,000 equivalent album units; down 5%); Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album climbs 6-5 (48,000; up 3%); SZA’s SOS ascends 8-7 (43,000; down 1%); Lil Uzi Vert’s former leader Pink Tape dips 3-8 (40,000; down 34%); and Gunna’s A Gift & a Curse is steady at No. 9 (nearly 40,000; down 6%).
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.
The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week (for the upcoming charts dated July 29), the two best-performing artists of 2023 battle again for the top spot, while new sets from a late rapper and a hip-hop star recovering from a near-death experience could make big bows.
Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (Republic): Taylor Swift is in the midst of a Billboard 200 week for the history books. Not only does her Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debut at No. 1 with a 2023-best 716,000 units – the highest first-week number since her own Midnights last November – but it’s one of four Swift albums in the chart’s top 10 this week, along with Midnights (No. 5), Lover (No. 7) and Folklore (No. 10). The last living artist who had that many albums in the top 10 at the same time was Herb Alpert, way back in 1966.
Now, Swift will try to do something she’s yet to do with one of her Taylor’s Version re-recordings: hold at No. 1 for a second straight week. Though both her Fearless and Red redos debuted atop the chart with massive first-week numbers, both were deposed in the next frame: Fearless by YSL’s label showcase Slime Language 2 and Red by Adele’s much-anticipated 30. (Fearless did return for a second week on top months later, following its release on vinyl and signed CD.)
Swift’s primary competition will be – of course – Morgan Wallen, still at No. 2 with his 15-week chart-topper One Thing at a Time. The album continues to post weekly units in the six digits, and will likely have the streaming advantage over Swift with its 36 tracks (including the long-reigning Streaming Songs No. 1, “Last Night.”), as Swift’s massive first-week sales numbers take the usual second-week drop. However, Swift is following her biggest Taylor’s Version debut yet, and a second week even 15% as strong as her first week would still have been enough to get past Wallen’s most recent One Thing total.
IN THE MIX
King Von, Grandson (Only the Family/Empire): Chicago rapper King Von only released one album during his lifetime, 2020’s No. 5-peaking Welcome to O’Block, but he was well on his way to hip-hop stardom when he was shot to death that November. He’s already released one posthumous album with 2022’s No. 2-debuting What It Means to Be King, and he may hit the top 10 a third time with last Friday’s (July 14) Grandson, featuring guest appearances from hitmakers like Polo G, Lil Durk and Moneybagg Yo.
Lil Tjay, 222 (Columbia): New York rapper Lil Tjay’s promising career was derailed in June 2022 when he was shot multiple times during an attempted robbery. He survived the shooting, and on Friday released his first album since getting out of the hospital, 222. The album includes features from Summer Walker, The Kid LAROI, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and more, plus the first-person narrative “June 22,” named after the day of his ‘22 shooting.
Lauren Spencer-Smith, Mirror (Republic): The early-2022 viral breakout of teenage singer-songwriter (and former American Idol contestant) Lauren Spencer-Smith‘s heartbreak ballad “Fingers Crossed” earned her Olivia Rodrigo comparisons, and a deal with Republic Records. Subsequent singles haven’t fared as well, but Smith hopes to make good on that early promise with debut album Mirror – which she released on Friday as a “Fan Pack” (with vinyl and a shirt), as a boxed set (CD and shirt) and as a signed CD.
While her Eras Tour continues to boost her catalog to unprecedented heights, while her 2022 blockbuster Midnights still has hits in the Hot 100’s top 20, and while one of her older deep cuts has already been resurrected into a top 10 smash, Taylor Swift now adds to her 2023 dominance with the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), third of her full-album re-recordings.
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The set debuts with 716,000 equivalent album units this week (chart dated July 22), over 500,000 of which come in sales — both the highest numbers for any album since her own Midnights bow last November — while debuting all 22 of its tracks on the Billboard Hot 100, led by the No. 5 entrance for new cut “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version).” It’s also the best first-week performance from any of the three Taylor’s Versions released thusfar, easily passing the 605,000 posted by Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021.
Why did this first week mark her best Taylor’s Version showing yet? And how much bigger could those numbers still grow for future re-recordings? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.
1. The 716,000 units for Speak Now is easily the most for any Taylor’s Version so far, breezing past the 605,000 that Red (TV) debuted with in 2021. What do you think is the biggest reason for the debut-week increase for Speak Now?
Katie Atkinson: With more than a half-million of those units in traditional album sales, I think the biggest reason is collecting. No Swiftie collection will be complete with the (Taylor’s Version) projects, so it’s a must-own record. There are also multiple versions of the physical album you could buy, so if you’re a completist Swiftie, you’ve gotta have ’em all. These re-recordings are basically the equivalent of legacy box sets but delivered during the prime of an artist’s career, which makes them obvious collector’s items.
Hannah Dailey: It may be partly due to the momentum she’s created with the past two Taylor’s Versions, but I think the main reason for Speak Now’s success is definitely the ongoing cultural phenomenon that is the Eras Tour. This is the first re-release to drop since she kicked off the tour, which is built almost completely around the nostalgia factor of her old albums. With pictures and videos from the show populating everyone’s timelines just about every weekend, people are more incentivized than ever to indulge in “Old Taylor” for as long as it’s cool again to do so.
Kyle Denis: As impossible as it may seem, Taylor’s star power has only gotten stronger. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is Swift’s first re-recording release since she dropped off Midnights last year — and that album earned her the biggest first-week units total of her career. Couple that with Speak Now (TV) being the first full-length release from Swift since the start of her record-breaking Eras Tour, and you have an already massive fanbase that’s only become even bigger and more galvanized to consume all things Swift. It also helps that Swift’s most dedicated fans often have a particularly strong connection to Speak Now. While the self-penned record didn’t house a litany of zeitgeist-conquering hits like Fearless or 1989, a lot of fan-favorites that weren’t smash hits (“Dear John,” “Enchanted,” “Better Than Revenge,” “Long Live,” etc.) are housed on the album.
Jason Lipshutz: Taylor Swift’s enormity. Obviously Swift was a superstar back when she released the first two Taylor’s Version albums in 2021, but somehow, she’s grown in stature exponentially even from that point, highlighted by the gargantuan success of Midnights (her biggest debut week ever!), “Anti-Hero” (her longest-leading Hot 100 No. 1 hit ever!), and the Eras tour (her biggest tour ever!). Make no mistake, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was always going to enjoy a comfortable No. 1 bow – but the release of its timing, when Swift’s commercial streak has gone from red-hot to scorching, can help explain its final units total.
Andrew Unterberger: It’s just Taylor Swift, rolling along her pop stardom as it absorbs everything in its path and keeps growing bigger and bigger — like Katamari Damacy. Speak Now is a fan-beloved album, but was not really the kind of commercial juggernaut that Fearless or Red were, and the re-recording has no songs nearly as anticipated as Red‘s “All Too Well (10-Minute Version).” It’s simply the biggest because Taylor Swift is at her biggest right now.
2. Speak Now is just one of four Swift albums in the Billboard 200‘s top 10 this week (making her the first living artist since Herb Alpert in 1966 to have four simultaneous top 10 albums), while she also has three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, each from a different album (making her the first living artist since The Beatles in 1964 to have three simultaneous top 10 hits from different albums). Which of the two accomplishments is more impressive to you?
Katie Atkinson: It’s hard to say, but I’ll give the edge to the Hot 100 stat. We’ve seen a lot of artists dominate the Hot 100 top 10 – as Swift herself did after the release of Midnights when she became the first artist to hold all top 10 spots on the chart – but those weeks include songs almost exclusively from the same album. Having three different songs in the upper region from three different albums is a wild level of domination that only Swift (and The Beatles!) could pull off.
Hannah Dailey: It’s hard to say, as I think the two achievements are pretty reflective of each other. But considering how much pride Swift takes in her ability to weave her songwriting into palatable, full bodies of work, I would say the Billboard 200 feat is most impressive.
Kyle Denis: I think the latter is more impressive. Placing four albums in the top 10 is certainly a feat, but with an event like the Super Bowl, some discounts, and a relatively quiet chart week, it’s certainly achievable for quite a few artists, should they put in that effort. To have singles from three different albums simultaneously place in the top 10, however, is a lot more difficult, I think. Especially when none of the songs appear on albums from other artists.
Swift and her team were able to time the radio ascent of “Karma” with the explosive rise of “Cruel Summer,” while also securing enough fan attention to care about one of six new “From the Vault” tracks on Speak Now (TV). To toe that line of a having a high volume of output without being so overexposed that people start to shy away from you… that’s not easy at all. It’s incredibly impressive, and a testament to how Swift’s stardom is borderline impenetrable.
Jason Lipshutz: Swift having a bunch of albums in the upper reaches of the Billboard 200 is impressive but not uncommon. Three songs, from three different albums, simultaneously in the top 10 of the Hot 100, though? That’s the sort of mind-boggling chart feat that Swift, and only Swift, is routinely adding to her resumé. Really, that accomplishment speaks to the astonishing rise of “Cruel Summer” four years after its release: having a single from last year’s Midnights and the newly released Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) in the top 10 makes some sense, but a Lover track organically rising to new heights at the same time simply demonstrates Swift’s current ubiquity, unprecedented in the modern music era.
Andrew Unterberger: I mean, anytime you can be the first artist since The Beatles to do something… Still, I might find the albums stat slightly more impressive, just because it shows how widespread the Swift bump of recent months has been, without been mostly contained to one or even a couple releases. And look outside of the top 10: She’s got another two in the top 20, and another two in the top 25. That kind of cross-catalog dominance when it comes to her overall legacy… that’s pretty Beatlesque.
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3. The current top 10 hit from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is “I Can See You,” which debuts at No. 5 on the Hot 100 — helped by prime New Music Friday placement and an internet-friendly music video starring a number of Speak Now-era Taylorverse fixtures. Does it feel like a lasting top 10 hit to you, or will it be more of a one-week wonder?
Katie Atkinson: I *really* like this song and would like it to have more of a moment, but if the shock factor of Swift casting one of her era-specific ex-boyfriends in the music video and the release-week timing couldn’t boost it higher than No. 5, I don’t see it climbing there another way. It seems like Team Swift would be smart to put their full juice behind the resurgent “Cruel Summer” instead, including the release of a long-awaited music video perfectly timed to land the top spot on the chart.
Hannah Dailey: I could see it sticking around a little longer, though I think it’s more likely it’ll be a slightly more successful “I Bet You Think About Me” – the parallel Vault single from Red (Taylor’s Version), which made it to No. 22 before falling off the Hot 100 after two weeks.
Kyle Denis: Definitely a one-week wonder. All eyes are on “Cruel Summer” right now, as the fan-favorite collects the commercial success it’s deserved for four years now. Between “Cruel Summer” and the three Midnights singles currently in rotation on radio, it would probably be overkill to promote a fifth Swift single — and radio is what “I Can See You” will need the most to remain a lasting top 10 hit. Now, should “I Can See You” naturally gain traction outside of its newness and star-studded music video, then that would be a different story.
Jason Lipshutz: I love “I Can See You” as both an ultra-catchy flirtation and redirection of Swift’s sound, pushing her Speak Now songwriting towards a more sexually suggestive and downright funky sound. In a vacuum, the song sounds like a no-brainer new hit from Swift… but it’s going to have to compete for attention with “Karma” and “Cruel Summer,” and while I think the cultural appetite for her music is larger than it’s ever been, I’d have to imagine that those concurrent hits cannibalize each other’s streams and plays to some degree. We’ll see in the weeks ahead just how many hits from different eras Swift can juggle at one time, though!
Andrew Unterberger: Yeah, just too crowded for “I Can See You” right now unfortunately — if it’s going to grow into a long-lasting hit, that’s probably going to have to be because it caught on as a TikTok moment or otherwise made some kind of specific cultural imprint. A top five debut is still pretty impressive for it though, considering the level of competition right now (including her own simultaneous hits).
4. The numbers keep getting bigger with these re-recordings — do you think we’ll eventually see a million-unit first week for one of the Taylor’s Versions?
Katie Atkinson: I wouldn’t put anything past Taylor Swift – and I’m especially not counting out this possibility considering 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is still on the horizon and was commercially and critically beloved upon its original release. Imagine the high-quality 1989 “From the Vault” tracks we’re going to get from that era if “New Romantics” was just a bonus track back in 2014.
Hannah Dailey: I think it’s very possible. My money is on 1989 (Taylor’s Version), especially because that record had such major first-week sales the first time around.
Kyle Denis: I’m expecting 1989 (Taylor’s Version) to get close to a million units first week, especially if she has some surprises in store like a new version of the “Bad Blood” music video or some big-name collaborations on the Vault tracks. We already got “Wildest Dreams (TV)” in 2021, so the 1989 (TV) campaign has been subtly chugging along for months now. There’s also the fact that 1989 is her most-successful album that needs to be re-recorded, so the hype will certainly be there. I expect Reputation (TV) to perform similarly to Red (TV) and Speak Now (TV). The re-recording of her eponymous debut, however, will probably pull in the smallest first-week units total of the Taylor’s Versions series.
Jason Lipshutz: Maybe – which I don’t think I would have said a week ago, since scoring a million-unit first week is such a tall order! But if Swift’s reign refuses to let up, the timing is right, and the hits-packed 1989 (Taylor’s Version) includes some undeniable fan goodies conjuring the frenzy of “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” then anything is possible. The success of these re-recorded albums has already surpassed the loftiest expectations, so I can’t count out something like a seven-figure debut for one of them.
Andrew Unterberger: The fact that it’s even a discussion is pretty crazy — remember how impressive it seemed when Fearless (Taylor’s Version) did nearly 300k in its first week, and most of us assumed that would be the biggest first-week number in the series, with future projects meeting with diminishing returns thanks to fading novelty. Clearly that hasn’t been the case, and when 1989 (Taylor’s Version) debuts, the million-unit mark will be within the realm of possibility — though if I had to put money on it, I’d still probably take the under.
5. Fill in the brackets: “Taylor Swift is currently the biggest pop star I can remember since [artist] in [year].“
Katie Atkinson: Justin Timberlake in 2006, so we’re talking about the release of FutureSex/LoveSounds followed by “Dick in a Box” on Saturday Night Live. But really, there’s no perfect comparison because no other pop superstar has been this strategic of a businessperson and made it part of their public brand. So she’s riding a high like late-2006 JT, but she’s transcended to a whole other plane at this point.
Hannah Dailey: I’m 23. Taylor is the biggest pop star I can remember, period. Even so, I don’t know if she even warrants comparison anymore. It would’ve been easier to finish the sentence ten years ago, but at this point, she’s broken enough of her own records to become her own benchmark. I think she stands alone.
Kyle Denis: Taylor Swift is currently the biggest pop star I can remember since Britney Spears in 1998-2003.
Jason Lipshutz: Since Adele in 2011, when her album 21 hovered around the top of the Billboard 200 for months on end (eventually collecting a whopping 24 weeks at No. 1) and sending three singles to the top of the Hot 100. Adele was just absolutely dominant that year – and by most metrics, Swift is currently experiencing an even bigger 2023.
Andrew Unterberger: Since Lady Gaga in 2009-2010? Drake’s chart dominance in 2018 was comparable, and Adele’s sales figures in 2011 (and 2015) may never be matched again. But in terms of all-encompassing, any-metric-you-use, tangible-or-intangible, center-of-the-conversation STARDOM? If not Gaga, then you really might need to go back to Britney and Eminem at the beginning of the century.
Taylor Swift’s third re-recorded album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), was a hot seller in its first week of a release in the U.S., according to the data tracking firm Luminate. In the week ending July 13, the set sold 507,000 copies across all of its physical and digital retail formats (CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download album). That sum represents nearly a quarter of all album sales in the U.S. that week (2.131 million).
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Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s share of the album sales market is similar to when she dominated the landscape during the debut week of Midnights in 2022. That album sold 1.14 million copies in the week ending Oct. 27, 2022 – accounting for 41% of all albums sold in the U.S. that week (2.79 million).
Swift can capture a large chunk of the album sales market in a given week because she remains a solid seller at a time when yearly album sales have declined in 10 of the last 11 years, as more music fan adopt streaming services as their primary means of consuming music. Thus, Swift’s outsized album sales dwarf the rest of the industry.
In 2022, Swift was the top-selling act for the year in terms of total album sales, with 2.93 million copies sold across her entire catalog – about 3% of total album sales across all albums from all artists (100.09 million). She also had the year’s top-selling album, with Midnights selling 1.818 million copies (more than twice the sum of the year’s second biggest seller, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, with 757,000).
In 2023 so far, through July 13, Swift’s total album sales across all of her releases stands at 2.096 million – 3.8% of all album sales this year, by all artists (54.519 million).
Swift’s selling power is further evidenced on Billboard’s latest 100-position Top Album Sales chart (dated July 22, reflecting the sales week ending July 13), where Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuts at No. 1 with 507,000 copies sold, the Nos. 2-100 titles – combined – sold just 381,000.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new July 22, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 18. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recorded version of Swift’s 2010 studio album Speak Now, which topped both the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales chart. The 22-track re-recorded edition includes new recordings of the original album’s 14 standard tracks, along with bonus cuts and previously unreleased “From the Vault” recordings. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Swift’s re-recorded Red and Fearless albums, released in 2021.
Of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’s 507,000 copies sold, physical sales comprise 410,000 (268,000 on vinyl; 134,000 on CD and 8,000 on cassette) while digital album download purchases comprise 97,000. The album’s vinyl sales mark the second-largest week for a vinyl album since Luminate began tracking data in 1991 – only the debut week of Midnights posted a bigger vinyl week (575,000).
Swift announced the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) on May 5, the same day she began taking pre-orders for the album via her official webstore. The set sold as a digital download album, double-CD, double-cassette and in three color vinyl LP variants (orchid marbled, violet marbled and a Target-exclusive lilac marbled color). The iTunes Store also carried an exclusive edition of the album with a short video clip as a bonus feature. On the final day (July 13) of the album’s debut tracking week, Swift released a deluxe digital album download of the set exclusively sold through her official webstore, which added two bonus live tracks recorded during her ongoing The Eras Tour (“Dear John” and “Last Kiss,” both of which were originally released in their studio form on the Speak Now album in 2010).
All told, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is the 12th No. 1 on Top Album Sales for Swift.
Elsewhere on the latest Top Album Sales chart, Swift has five more titles in the top 10, as her former No. 1s Midnights (a non-mover at No. 3 with 18,000; up 49%), Folklore (8-6 with 13,000; up 45%), Lover (10-7 with 12,000; up 50%), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (14-9 with 11,000; up 81%) and Red (Taylor’s Version) (19-10 with 10,000; up 89%). It’s the second time Swift has placed at least six titles in the top 10 concurrently. She did it previously on the July 22-dated list. No other act has charted six or more albums in the top 10 at the same time.
As for the non-Swift titles in the top 10: Stray Kids’ former No. 1 5-STAR is a non-mover at No. 2 (27,000; up 70% after the release of a new CD edition), aespa’s MY WORLD falls 1-4 in its second week (14,000; down 65%), Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. jumps 33-5 (13,000; up 265% after a new vinyl edition of the album was released) and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation debuts at No. 8 (11,000).
In the week ending July 13, there were 2.131 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 22% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 1.729 million (up 21.8%) and digital albums comprised 402,000 (up 23.2%).
There were 705,000 CD albums sold in the week ending July 13 (up 8% week-over-week) and 1.008 million vinyl albums sold (up 33.4%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 18.893 million (up 4.1% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 25.371 million (up 21.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 54.519 million (up 8.1% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 44.556 million (up 13.4%) and digital album sales total 9.962 million (down 10.5%).
According to TMZ, Ariana Grande and her husband Dalton Gomez have been separated since January and are heading toward divorce. They tied the knot in May 2021. With ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ reaching No. 1, Taylor Swift achieves her 12th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and surpasses Barbra Streisand for the most chart-toppers […]
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