One thing is certain about Taylor Swift: if she releases an album it's sure going to sell by the truckload. However,  speculations regarding the release of her latest album, "1989," due Monday, has been dampened by nervous speculation due to the industry's sales slump couple by the singer's decision to quit singing country songs, which many consider as the lifeline of her career.

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Swift's last two records, Red and Speak Now, each raked over a million copies in its first week, which is already considered a rare feat given the declining music sales attributed to shifting preferences to online streaming.

Two years ago, Red made over 1.2 million sales, which was hailed as the biggest opening in over 10 years and the last album to hit one million mark in one week.

No new title has ever made it to the one-million-sales mark this year and over all album sales fell 14 percent compared last year. Billboard magazine projects that 1989 will fetched at least 800,000 copies in its debut week.

Swift, born in 1989, announced her album's release last August as she was speaking before her fans at the Empire State Building. The Grammy-award winning singer called it "very first documented, official pop album."

It was also a testimony of her official breakup with country music. Her album's first single, "Shake It Off," reached the Top 40 radio and zoomed in to No. 1, although country programmers ignored it.

New York Times predicted that the lack of support from country music stations, which is the US's popular radio music format, could significantly affect Swift's sales. But given her PR, brand tie-ins and a strong social media following, not to mention her viral Diet Coke commercial that ended with a pitch for her album, it might be that the former country muse could make it big with her pop crossover.

Perhaps, the biggest challenged to 1989's success would be the declining music retail industry, given that streaming services are now replacing CDs and downloads, the revenue of which could never offset the decline in album sales.

 "It's just very difficult to convince people to buy music," Keith Caulfield of Billboard said.

"Forecasts are forecasts," he added, referring to Swift's capacity to exceed limitations. "The weather changes."

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