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12/22/2024 10:44:27 pm

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Taylor Swift's '1989' Album May Top 1.25 Million Sales, Could this be the Last Platinum Album in Music History?

The success of Taylor Swift's 1989 album really seems unstoppable as industry insiders have now upped their projections, estimating that the country-turned-pop star may well sell 1.25 million copies of her new album before the first week ends.

There were even speculations that the album might even top 1.3 million, if the weekend proves generous enough for the singer.

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With Taylor Swift's album quickly nearing the one million sales mark, 1989 is slated to be the first album by a solo artist to make this achievement since Red (also by Swift) reached that feat in 2012.

The current title holder, Eminem, sold 1.322 million copies for his album The Eminem Show, Nielsen SoundScan can reveal.

Sales forecast for 1989 has climbed almost every day. Prospects were pegged at 800,000-900,000 a week ago, then it climbed to one million, then 1.2 million, and now 1.25 million.

Interestingly (yet alarmingly), no other solo artist has ever sold one million copies of their albums, although the Frozen soundtrack enjoyed that feat.

So, industry insiders are prospecting that 1989 might be the last platinum album ever.

While entertainment lawyer Lori Landew of Fox Rothschild believe that there are still other solo artists who could match or even surpass Swift's achievement, an artist could only do so if "that can be attributed to a super strong and loyal fan base."

Hugh McIntyre pointed out that last year, there were five albums that had gone platinum. However, record sales have been steadily on decline for the past 10 years, thanks to piracy and rise of streaming, the former being totally an illegal act. Although streaming also gets artists and songwriters paid, income from streaming and downloading is no match to the big bucks an artist can earn with a recorded album.

The midyear music report by Nielson can reveal that digital sales slumped by 13%, while album sales declined 14.3%, while online streaming rose 42%.

"Since streaming sites and rogue torrent sites make it easy for any teenager to access millions of songs for free, it comes as no surprise that young people, who are the music industry's core consumer, are not paying for physical or digital singles or albums," explained veteran music lawyer Bernie Resnick.

"Without the support of the most important segment of the customer base, it becomes extremely difficult to sell enough units to qualify for gold or platinum sales awards," he continue.

And maximizing her strong fan base was what Swift did.

With millions of Millennial fans, the former country singer shrewdly put her popularity to her advantage through promotional tactics. While promoting her album, she was literally everywhere, from social media and TV to radio and private listening sessions for fans. Having a strong connection with her fans was the core of Swift's incredible success, reflecting her a rise in her earnings to $64 million this 2014.

So, will 1989 be the last platinum album in the music industry? It may be, although the RIAA might also want to revise its definition of platinum to count streams. Until then, Swift could relish the feat of having being music industry's last platinum queen. 

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