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Taylor Swift performs during "Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour" at the National Stadium on March 02, 2024 in Singapore.© Getty Images

Taylor Swift reacts to raw new album making history with unseen casual photos: 'Are you actually serious?'

The "Fortnight" singer shared new private photos from the making of the album

Ahad Sanwari
Ahad Sanwari - New York
Senior WriterNew York
April 28, 2024
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Taylor Swift officially has another number one album to her name – as per Billboard's latest report, The Tortured Poets Department has become her newest chart-topper.

The album made a historic debut atop the charts and helped Taylor break a slew of records while also tying some as well, thanks to the major hype surrounding its release and the 31-song deluxe version.

The album arrived at number one with a whopping 891 million in streams, thereby becoming the largest streaming week for an album in Billboard history since the charts began including streaming figures in late 2014.

It reached the top with 2.6 million equivalent units sold in its first week (which comprises a combination of primarily traditional sales like CDs and digital copies, plus streaming figures through platforms like Spotify and Apple Music). 1.9 million of those were traditional sales alone.

The figure is the second-largest ever since Billboard began using equivalent units to measure sales, following Adele's 25 in 2015, which rocketed to the top with a mammoth 3.4 million in sales.

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Taylor reacted to the insane sales achievement with a rare social media post, thanking her fans for listening, streaming, and buying the album, which has received notice for its raw and vulnerable storytelling, with images of herself recording it with featured artists Post Malone and Florence Welch.

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"My mind is blown. I'm completely floored by the love you've shown this album," she penned. "2.6 million ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIOUS?? Thank you for listening, streaming, and welcoming Tortured Poets into your life. Feeling completely overwhelmed."

Taylor Swift and Post Malone while recording "Fortnight"© Instagram
Taylor shared some new photos from the making of "The Tortured Poets Department"

She even added a wink to whether the album will make it into the Eras Tour setlist, writing: "I was already so fired up to get back to the tour but you doing THIS?? May 9th can't come soon enough."

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The Tortured Poets Department (or "TTPD" as fans know it) now has the largest single-week streaming figure ever, beating out Drake's Scorpion, which accrued 745 million in 2018 (Taylor and Drake alone boast the top six highest streaming figures).

Taylor Swift and Florence Welch while recording "Florida!!!"© Instagram
The singer included snaps with her collaborators Post Malone and Florence Welch

The album also becomes Taylor's 14th number, allowing her to tie for the most number one albums by a soloist with Jay-Z, placing second only to the Beatles with 19. She extends her record for most number ones among female artists, though, with Barbra Streisand in second with 11.

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But of course, there's more. The album's traditional sales total is the third largest in the modern sales era (behind Adele's 25 and NSYNC's No Strings Attached from 2000), and also cements Taylor as a juggernaut in the vinyl industry – the album debuts with 859,000 copies sold in vinyls, beating her own 1989 (Taylor's Version) for the largest single-week sum in the modern era.

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In fact, of the top ten highest single-week vinyl sales in the country, the "Anti-Hero" singer boasts six, including the entire top four (other artists represented including Harry Styles, Adele, Olivia Rodrigo, and Travis Scott).

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