Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is the biggest album of the year so far in the US, while Benson Boone’s ‘Beautiful Things’ has been the most-streamed song.
The album, which NME gave three stars, was only released on April 19, but earned 4.66 million equivalent album units in the first half of this year. It also became the first album by a woman to spend its first 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 chart.
Equivalent album units comprise not only traditional album sales, but also track equivalent albums and streaming, with each unit equalling either one album sale, ten individual tracks sold from an album, 3,750 ad-supported on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official and audio streams generated by songs from an album.
However, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ has also been the top-selling album by traditional album sales, with 2.47million sold. It’s the top-selling album on CD, vinyl, and digital download. Two more of Swift’s albums, ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ and ‘Lover’ came in at nine and 10 respectively, with albums by the likes of Beyoncé, SZA, Noah Kahan and Morgan Wallen also among the best-selling records.
Boone, meanwhile, saw his hit ‘Beautiful Things’ get 448.7 million clicks in the first half of 2024. It peaked at Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March. It’s followed by ‘I Remember Everything’ by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves in the ranking of the year’s most-streamed songs, while the likes of Kahan, Kendrick Lamar, Teddy Swims, and Hozier also all feature.
The tracking period was from December 29 to June 27, and data tracking company Luminate found the data.
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Swift is currently on the European leg of her ‘Eras Tour’. NME gave her show in Edinburgh last month a five-star review. We said: “Despite being an arena show, in a huge, cavernous venue, Swift and her fans have managed to cultivate a community. Strangers swap friendship bracelets, laugh and cry together, and embrace the tour’s in-jokes and lore.”
The star will return to the UK – where ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ is again the year’s biggest album so far – next month for five more dates at London’s Wembley Stadium, before finishing the tour with a North American leg across November and December.
You can find tickets to the London shows here, and tickets to Swift’s North America shows here.