Taylor Swift’s fifth and latest studio album “1989” is 2014’s best-selling album, adding yet another feather in the cap of the country music singer-turned-pop star.
The past year was indeed Taylor Swift’s banner year and her accomplishments are still trickling to the new year, which is a good sign for the “Blank Space” singer.
According to a report by Forbes, “1989” sold a total of 3.66 million copies in 2014, narrowly beating for the prized plum the album “Frozen” from the Disney animated movie of the same title, which shipped out 3.53 million copies.
Although if analysts would really view the best-selling album battle from a wider perspective, Taylor Swift’s “1989” would be way ahead of “Frozen” since the former was only launched on October 27, 2014 while the latter was launched in November 2013 yet. That means that “Frozen” had all of 2014 to sell all those 3.53 million copies while Taylor Swift barely had two months and a half to market those 3.66 million copies.
Battle to the finish
“Frozen” also had a good finishing sales kick for 2014 as it lorded over the year end charts for every single week of 2014. But during the holidays, “1989” was able to move 326,000 copies in the week ending December 28, while “Frozen” managed to sell only 60,000, capping off the tight race to the finish line.
In terms of total albums sold since their respective launches, “Frozen” is still ahead of Taylor Swift’s “1989.” Since November 2013, the soundtrack album of the Disney animated movie has sold 3.86 million copies, 200,000 more compared to “1989” as of the end of December 2014.
But with the coming of the next few months, “1989” is expected to surpass that mark too. Surely, the momentum of the banner 2014 for Taylor Swift is still continuing in 2015.
Other firsts
And lest everyone forgets, “1989” sold 1.287 million copies right on its first week alone, making it an instant platinum album. Its first week sales haul also put “1989” on the third spot of the all-time first week sales record.
It comes next only to “The Eminem Show” released in 2002, with 1.322 million copies sold, and Britney Spears’ “Oops! … I Did it Again” album released in 2000, with 1.319 million units moved.
With the smashing success of her fifth and latest album and a number of her singles continuously making waves at the charts, Taylor Swift has been named Billboard’s Woman of the Year for 2014.
By the way, winning the best-selling album of the year is nothing new to Taylor Swift. She already did it in 2009 with her second studio album titled “Fearless” that also sold 3 million copies. It also became Taylor’s passport to fame as it was eventually adjudged as “Album of the Year” during the 2010 Grammy Awards.