When it comes to releasing No. 1 albums, that’s not a task that Taylor Swift seems to have a tremendously difficult time with. All of her albums aside from her self-titled debut reached the top spot of the Billboard 200 chart, and even that one hit No. 5. The final sales numbers for the first week of Lover, Swift’s just-released seventh album, aren’t in yet, but it’s safe to say that it will debut in the top spot, barring anything wildly unexpected. Here’s why: After just two days, Lover is already the best-selling album of the year in the US.
In just the first 48 hours after its release, Billboard notes that Lover has nearly reached 500,000 equivalent album units. That’s more than the year’s previous top seller, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born soundtrack, which has 444,000 sold through the week ending August 22. Lover has already achieved the biggest sales week for any album (again, in just two days) since Swift’s own Reputation sold over 1.2 million copies in its first week and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated December 2, 2017.
Currently, industry forecasters predict that Lover will debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated September 7, with over 700,000 equivalent album units earned in the album’s first week. This news comes just after it was revealed that Lover had the most first-week sales of any album after just one day. So, in conclusion: Lover is a hit.
