Swift's newest release makes her the only woman to have two million-selling weeks.
- Oct 31, 2012
AceShowbiz - The numbers are in and as music experts predicted, Taylor Swift, the country girl who writes songs about her romantic relationships, has set records with her newest album "Red" as it hits the 1.2 million sales mark just in its first week. Eminem's "The Eminem Show" was the last album to reach such figure selling 1.322 million in its first week in 2002.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Red" is the young singer's second consecutive album to reach the 1 million mark in its debut week, joining her 2010 release "Speak Now", which reeled in 1.047 million and making her the only female artist in chart history to have two million-selling debut weeks.
The 22-year-old, who will begin touring for the album on March 2013, was overwhelmed and expressed her disbelief in what "Red" has achieved so far. "They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week," the singer tweeted shortly after the final tally was released. "How is this real life?! You are UNREAL. I love you so much. Thanks a million ;)," she added.
The incredible album sales of "Red" was also attributed to Swift's savvy marketing deals and unconventional selling locations such as Walgreens and Papa John's Pizza where they bundled the CD with a large pizza for $22 and got 8,000 copies sold. Target also checked in around 396,000 copies when it offered the deluxe edition of "Red" that included a bonus CD containing six additional tracks (three bonus songs and three remixes). Meanwhile, exclusive digital retailer, iTunes, sold nearly 465,000 copies of the album, which is also a record sales week for an iTunes album.
