“The Tortured Poets Department” has been at the top of the charts for months – here’s how

Top line

Taylor Swift’s dominant run at No. 1 with The Tortured Poets Department is breaking all records and could soon become the album with the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 since its debut. This is due to a long album release with strong streaming performance, as well as numerous compilation CDs and digital versions that have seen Swift outpace all competition and maintain the top spot.

Key data

How dominant is “The Tortured Poets Department” in streaming?

The album broke many streaming records upon its debut and became the first album to garner over 300 million streams on Spotify in a single day. The hit song “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone, became the platform’s most streamed song in a single day. Fifteen of the album’s 16 songs have more than 100 million streams on Spotify, and three months after its release, the album sits at number 2 on Spotify’s weekly album chart.

How did Swift increase her album sales?

In the weeks since the album’s big launch, Swift has supported the album’s chart performance with various collectible and digital versions that boosted album sales. During the album’s ninth week at No. 1 in June, Billboard reported Swift’s sales increased 42% because two CD variants each included an exclusive bonus track. During May and June, Swift released new CD or digital versions of the album almost weekly, with each new version accompanied by bonus tracks—often acoustic performances of one of the album’s songs, a demo version of a song as a “first phone note,” or a live performance from one of her Eras Tour shows. She released the album with an acoustic version of “But Daddy I Love Him” ​​on May 8, followed by three versions with three different “phone note” tracks on May 16, three versions with three live tracks on May 23, two new versions with two acoustic tracks on June 1, another two versions with two more acoustic tracks on June 10, and several UK-exclusive digital albums on June 13. Some of these album releases angered fans of other artists, including Billie Eilish – who typically works in streaming and distribution – and Charli XCX, whose albums were prevented from topping the charts due to Swift’s dominance with “The Tortured Poets Department.” Swift has also fended off album debuts from Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, Bon Jovi, Gunna and others.

What chart records did Swift break?

Swift’s months-long reign atop the Billboard 200 has made this album one of the longest-lasting albums at No. 1 since its debut — and it could be just two weeks away from tying the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 by an album since its debut. This week, “The Tortured Poets Department” became one of only three albums to spend its first 11 weeks at No. 1, joining Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” which spent its first 12 weeks at No. 1, and Stevie Wonder’s “Songs in the Key of Life,” which spent its first 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 in 1976. Swift tied Whitney Houston’s album “Whitney” this week for the most consecutive weeks at No. 1 by an album by a female artist after its debut. Swift also extends her record as the solo artist with the most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 across all albums: With 80 weeks total, she is only behind The Beatles, who logged 132 weeks at No. 1, putting her at No. 1 a full year ahead of Swift. “The Tortured Poets Department” is the album with the third most weeks at No. 1 this decade, just two behind Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” and six weeks behind Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time.” With its 11th week at No. 1, “The Tortured Poets Department” overtook SZA’s “SOS” to become the album by a female artist with the most weeks at No. 1 in the 2020s.

Surprising fact

Although Swift’s bonus track album releases have been linked to the chart success of The Tortured Poets Department, streaming was the largest part of the album’s performance on the Billboard charts every week except for its debut week and week five, when Swift’s album topped Eilish’s first week on the chart. That week, Billboard attributed this to the “continued strong sales of the 20+ existing different versions of the album” as well as six new digital album editions, which caused her album sales to increase 400% compared to the previous week. Swift still topped the streaming album chart ahead of Eilish’s new release.

Forbes Rating

Forbes estimated Swift’s net worth at $1.3 billion on Monday afternoon, making her the first musician to make it into the billionaire rankings based primarily on her music sales and performances. She became a billionaire in October 2023, largely thanks to the success of her Eras Tour.

tangent

The practice of releasing multiple physical versions of a single album, including on CD and vinyl, has been criticized in recent years. Swift (and many other artists) have released vinyls in different colors and editions for fans to collect—and to boost their sales. Eilish brought attention to the practice (and angered Swift’s fans) this year when she told Billboard, “It’s some of the biggest artists in the world making 40 different vinyl packages, each with a different unique feature, just to keep you buying more,” while admitting that she herself had previously released multiple vinyl versions.

Further information

Taylor Swift reaches her career high with “The Tortured Poets Department” (Billboard) in the 11th week at number 1 on the Billboard 200

Taylor Swift releases new versions of “Tortured Poets Department” – while fans accuse the singer of excluding Charli XCX from the number 1 spot (Forbes)

Taylor Swift could stop Billie Eilish from hitting No. 1 with her new album as rivalry among fans grows (Forbes)