‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ on track for record-breaking number-one debut

We won’t know the final results until Sunday, but Taylor Swift’s latest release Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has already scored the biggest first-week sales of the year and is expected to debut at number one. If it does, Taylor will have a new chart record to add to her growing collection.

As Billboard notes, if Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) debuts at number one, it’ll be her 12th chart-topper on the Billboard 200. That means she’ll surpass Barbra Streisand and set a new record for the most number-one albums among female artist. Streisand and Taylor both currently have 11.

In addition, Taylor would then tie Drake for the third most number-one albums of all time, behind only The Beatles, who have 19, and Jay-Z, who has 14. But with more re-recordings and new albums to come, Taylor will likely pass Jay-Z in the next couple of years.

As for the chart numbers, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has now sold over 640,000 units in its first six days of release, according to data provided by Luminate. That blows away the previous 2023 first-week bestseller, Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time, which debuted with 501,000.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) has the biggest week of any album since Taylor’s own Midnights, which debuted with sales of 1.578 million units.

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