Taylor Swift's numerically named '1989' album just racked up some amazing numbers of its own: In its debut week, the album sold 1.287 million copies, according to the tallies of Nielsen/SoundScan. That's the largest opening for an album in 12 years, since Eminem's 'The Eminem Show,' back in 2002. (That work banked 1.322 million copies in its initial spurt).
Clearly, Swift's figures are enough to plop it atop of the Billboard Top 200 Album chart, published Wednesday.
However amazing such numbers may be, they failed to achieve a likely Swiftian goal. Her numbers fall just short of the figure that gave Britney Spears the top opening week for a female in history.
That was for 'Oops! I Did It Again,' which moved just over 1.3 million in its debut week back in 2000.
Then again, it's infinitely harder to move such numbers in today's awful sales climate than it was in the heady heyday of Britney.
'1989' - named for the year of Swift's birth - now becomes the star's fourth No. 1 album, following 'Red' in 2012, 'Speak Now' in 2010 and 'Fearless' back in 2008.
Swift's album easily becomes 2014's top opening grosser, soundly trouncing Coldplay's 'Ghost Stories,' which started with 745,000 copies purchased. '1989' also joins the 'Frozen' soundtrack as the only two albums to sell 1 million copies in this depressed year.
According to Billboard chart czar Keith Caulfield, Swift is the only artist ever to earn three separate million-selling debuts. This latest one one follows 'Red' (which opened with 1.208 million sales) and 'Speak Now' (which started with 1.047 million).
jfarber@nydailynews.com
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Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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