This month has brought news that Taylor Swift’s three “1989” singles “Shake it Off,” “Blank Space” and “Style” are responsible for nearly 10 million paid US downloads. It brought news that “1989” was the first–and thus far only album–to sell one million traditional US copies in 2015. It brought news that the worldwide sales total for “1989” is at least seven million.
Commercially, April has been very kind to Taylor Swift and her blockbuster album.
This week, however, the month shows off a meaner side.
For the first time since its late-2014 release, Taylor Swift’s “1989” does not rank as one of the week’s top five US albums.
According to Billboard, “1989” is credited with 38,000 total weekly consumption units (pure sales + single track sales/10 + single streams/1500*).
Down from last week’s unit total of 44,000, the count situates “1989” at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart. Shawn Mendes’ “Handwritten” (119,000 total units), “Furious 7” (79,000), Reba’s “Love Somebody” (62,000), Tyler, The Creator’s “Cherry Bomb” (58,000), Halestorm’s “Into the Wild Life” (56,000) and “50 Shades of Grey” (43,000) all achieved higher totals this week.
Prior to this week’s Billboard 200, which is based on sales and streaming for the tracking week ending April 19, “1989” had spent twenty four consecutive weeks in the top 5.
