Will Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ Break Adele’s Single-Week Sales Record? 

The Contenders is simply a midweek file that looks astatine artists aiming for the apical of the Billboard charts, and the strategies down their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Oct. 18, we look astatine the jaw-dropping numbers already being enactment up by the highly anticipated caller medium from the biggest popular prima successful the universe, and what worlds it inactive has near to conquer. 

Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl (Republic): For astir of the past decade, it seemed not lone unbeatable, it seemed un-nearable. From the clip Adele acceptable the modern-era single-week income grounds successful precocious 2015 with a jaw-plummeting 3.378 million, up until this precise week, nary different creator had adjacent gotten successful her wide neighborhood — with lone 1 creator adjacent clearing the one-million people successful income implicit that clip period, doing truthful with 4 abstracted albums. (The “modern era” begins successful 1991, erstwhile Luminate — past SoundScan — began electronically tracking data.)

That 1 artist, of course, was Taylor Swift. After Reputation debuted with 1.22 cardinal successful income successful 2017, her adjacent fewer releases debuted successful the six digits, arsenic she started making her albums instantly disposable for streaming connected DSPs. But then, adjacent with the albums connected streaming, she cleared the cardinal people successful income again successful 2022 with Midnights (1.14 million), past successful 2023 with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (1.36 million) and successful 2024 with The Tortured Poets Department (1.91 million). She was getting closer, but she inactive wasn’t peculiarly adjacent — that TTPD people whitethorn person respective times bigger than immoderate income week posted by immoderate different creator this decade, but it lone got her astir 57% of the mode to 25. Adele’s people inactive looked harmless for the foreseeable future.  

As it turns out, it mightiness person lone been harmless for 1 much year. On Saturday, Billboard reported that Swift’s caller album, The Life of a Showgirl, had debuted with 2.7 cardinal successful income in conscionable its archetypal day— already blowing good past Tortured Poets, and getting 80% of the mode to 25. Those numbers person steadily accrued implicit the people of the week, and arsenic of Billboard’s latest update, person swelled to 3.2 cardinal — less than 200,000 copies distant from passing an Adele people nary different creator could adjacent spot with a telescope, with 2 days inactive to spell successful the tracking week.  

One related all-time people of Adele’s has already fallen to Swift this week: Showgirl has p...