'The Tortured Poets Department' gets largest streaming week ever

NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift continues to dominate in the week following the release of her 11th album, “The Tortured Poets Department.” The 31-track album has hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, tying Swift with Jay-Z for second-most No. 1 albums at 14. Only The Beatles, with 19 No. 1 albums, have had more.

The double album has amassed 2.61 million equivalent album units, according to Luminate, the industry data and analytics company. A shocking 1.91 million of those units come from traditional album sales — people purchasing downloads, CDs, cassettes and vinyl. Vinyl accounts for 859,000 units sold, the highest number of vinyl sales in modern history.

It is the top-selling album of 2024, eclipsing Beyoncé's “Cowboy Carter,” which sold 228,000 units. (But streaming was a boon: “Cowboy Carter” hit 407,000 equivalent album units, a combination of pure album sales and on-demand streams, earned in the U.S. in its first week.)