It might be a struggle for most musicians to sell albums nowadays, but apparently, Taylor Swift doesn’t have such problems. We all knew her new album Red would debut at number one on the Billboard charts, but there was plenty of disagreement as to how many units might be sold. The figures have finally been tallied, and it seems Red was purchased by 1.208 million people. That’s the highest debut since The Eminem Show in 2002 and an incredible accomplishment given the current state of the music industry.
According to Billboard, Swift’s accomplishment is all the more impressive because no retailers sold copies for under $9.99. A little more than a year ago, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way topped a million too, but apparently, those sales figures were buoyed by Amazon MP3 offering the unit for $.99.
The music business has evolved more between The Eminem Show and Red than perhaps any other time in its history. Ten years ago, Swift probably would have moved two million units at minimum. People would have been lined up around the block to purchase the CD at Circuit City. Luckily, no matter how much the music business changes, the thrill of listening to a great song for the first time never changes.
Here’s to hoping everyone who purchased Red this week sat down with the music and got something truly beautiful and fulfilling out of the time and money spent.
