Taylor Swift ties Jay-Z for most Billboard 200 number one albums by a solo artist with 'The Tortured Poets Department'

Taylor Swift has achieved another milestone with her latest album 'The Tortured Poets Department', debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It ties her with Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums with 14 among soloists in the chart's nearly 70-year history, second only to The Beatles with 19.

'The Tortured Poets Department' recorded an impressive 2.61 million equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week, ending April 25th. Out of these, traditional album sales accounted for 1.914 million units, including a remarkable 859,000 vinyl sales. The deluxe edition of the album, featuring 31 songs, amassed 891.34 million on-demand official streams, marking the largest streaming week for an album ever.

These figures also represent the second-largest week for an album (by total equivalent album units earned) since measurement by units began in December 2014. It's the third-largest sales week in the modern era (since electronically tracking sales began in 1991), and the largest sales week for an album on vinyl.

Released on April 19th, the album initially came as a standard 16-song digital download and 17-song physical configurations. Swift later expanded the album to a 31-song edition, which she described as a "secret DOUBLE album" containing "tortured poetry" written over the past two years.

With its record-breaking sales, 'The Tortured Poets Department' has become the top-selling album of 2024 to date, outpacing its closest competitor, Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter'.