Projected to debut at #1 (no surprise) with 403,000 album equivalents That's gotta be the biggest non-Taylor first week sales in years right?
Travis Scott got to almost half a million last year, too. And Drake did 402,000. I'm honestly surprised the number isn't bigger for Cowboy Carter. It seems like there's so much talk about how it's her and Taylor and then everyone else, in terms of bankable music stars, but I guess this underlines just how ahead of everyone Taylor actually is.
Ok I got curious and just checked wikipedia for anything over 400,000 this decade so far: 03/07/20 - BTS: Map of the Soul 7 (422,000) 04/04/20 - The Weeknd: After Hours (444,000) 07/25/20 - Juice Wrld: Legends Never Die (497,000) 08/08/20 - Taylor Swift: Folklore (846,000) 09/18/21 - Drake: Certified Lover Boy (613,000) 11/27/21 - Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor's Version) (605,000) 12/04/21 - Adele: 30 (830,000) 06/04/22 - Harry Styles: Harry's House (521,500) 11/05/22 - Taylor Swift: Midnights (1,578,000) 11/19/22 - Drake and 21 Savage: Her Loss (404,000) 03/18/23 - Morgan Wallen: One Thing At a Time (501,000) 07/22/23 - Taylor Swift: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (716,000) 08/12/23 - Travis Scott: Utopia (496,000) 10/21/23 - Drake: For All the Dogs (402,000) 11/11/23 - Taylor Swift: 1989 (Taylor's Version) (1,653,000) And for reference Renaissance did 332,000
it's fucking insane how much Midnights and 1989 stand apart. Even from folklore/REd to Midnights, big jump
based on absolutely nothing but personal bias, my guess is no. Just feels like the leadup for this album is nowhere near as big as the previous albums, but you never know with Taylor
I was really surprised by Evermore (329,000) and Fearless TV (291,000). It really seemed like she was starting to level out and then... well we know what happened then.
Idk about the first week sales for TTPD, but I definitely don't think it'll be as high. Midnights had a lot working for it because it had good will from how well received folklore was, hype from the Eras tour announcement and from all the TVs, and it was her first pop album since Lover. And 1989 TV obviously was riding the waves of the Tour hype. If I had to guess I'm betting TTPD is in the 750k to 1,250k I'm not saying TTPD is going to get bad reviews, but I do think that unless it's at least somewhat of a departure for her and is absolutely undeniable, it's going to see a lot of backlash. I'm really expecting people to turn on her for this one.
She didn't have vinyl ready to ship for those, and the rule had just changed. So the folklore first-week number includes vinyl preorders, but neither of those first weeks do. All the others have vinyl included in that first week, which clearly makes a huge deal, especially the two times she really played the variant game (Midnights and 1989 TV).
Based on the fact that there was a wait time to buy the vinyl for the first 12 hours, and the fact that she's hocking variants again (with "exclusive" bonus tracks this time), I think TTPD is going to be just as big as Midnights and 1989 TV. Would not be surprised if it hits 1.7-2 million.
I think my favorite thing about Beyonce is how often she makes a remix a whole new song. Brand new lyrics, music, everything. That being said, I wish this whole remix was what it becomes, having the first half be identical underserves what it is
This is so long that I still haven't really formed an opinion worth sharing on it, but "Tyrant" is the one.
The official credits for this album are an essay, who wants to dive in and find interesting things?? Beyonce
Ryan Tedder helped write the song with Miley. Cam and The-Dream did most of the heavy lifting. Pharell is on Sweet Honey Buckin' writing team. Only really interesting tidbits in my look through. Also not seeing Taylor credited for background vocals anywhere (on the Spotify credits, at least) though I thought she was on that one song.
Yeah it turns out he reused parts of an old song he produced back in 2012. Here's Maxine Ashley's post about it