RM Taylor Swift Achieves Record-Shattering 4 Million Week With No. 1 Billboard 200 Debut of ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

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Taylor Swift achieves her 15th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Oct. 18) in record-breaking fashion with the debut of The Life of a Showgirl. Swift breaks out of a tie with Drake and JAY-Z for the most No. 1 albums among soloists and becomes the sole act with the second-most No. 1s. Only The Beatles, with 19 No. 1s, have more, dating to when the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in 1956.

All 15 of Swift’s full-length studio albums and rerecorded projects from 2008’s Fearless (her second album) through The Life of a Showgirl have debuted at No. 1.

The Life of a Showgirl debuts with 4.002 million equivalent album units (which include pure album sales and streaming activity) earned in the United States in the week ending Oct. 9, according to Luminate, following its Oct. 3 release. Of that sum, pure album sales total 3,479,500. Those are the largest weekly sums for an album, by both equivalent album units and pure album sales, since Luminate started electronically collecting data in 1991, beginning the modern era of weekly music tabulation.

Previously, the modern-era records for single-week equivalent album units, and pure album sales, for an album were set by the opening frame of Adele’s 25, with 3.482 million units, of which 3.378 million were pure album sales, in November 2015.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new, Oct. 18, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Oct. 14. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 4.002 million first-week equivalent album units, pure album sales (purchases of the physical and digital versions of the album) comprise 3,479,500 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales) and SEA units comprise 522,600 (equaling 680.9 million on-demand official streams of the tracks on the album; it also debuts at No. 1 on Top Streaming Albums). The album has zero TEA units, as none of its tracks were available to purchase individually on digital retail services. (Notably, The Life of a Showgirl is the first album to be No. 1 with no TEA units, and no tracks available to purchase individually, since the Billboard 200 began ranking albums by equivalent album units with the Dec. 13, 2014-dated chart.)

The Life of a Showgirl was announced on Aug. 12 and Swift’s official webstore began taking preorders for the album soon after. The album bowed on Oct. 3 and during its first week Swift hit the promotional trail, chatting up the album on radio programs and sitting down for interviews on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (Oct. 6) and Late Night with Seth Meyers (Oct. 8). Her film Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl barnstormed movie theaters over the Oct. 3-5 weekend, coming in atop the box office at U.S. and Canada movie theaters. The official music video for the album’s first single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” debuted on Oct. 5.

Here’s a look at some of the key figures for the opening week of The Life of a Showgirl.

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Here is a look at the acts with the most No. 1 albums since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.

19, The Beatles
15, Taylor Swift
14, Drake
14, JAY-Z
11, Eminem
11, Future
11, Bruce Springsteen
11, Barbra Streisand
11, Ye (Kanye West)
10, Elvis Presley
9, Garth Brooks
9, Kenny Chesney
9, Madonna
9, The Rolling Stones

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In December 2014, the Billboard 200 began ranking the week’s most popular albums by equivalent album units. Previously, the chart was ranked by pure album sales (purchases of physical and digital albums). Here’s a recap of the top 10 biggest weeks, by units — six belonging to Swift — since December 2014.

Rank, Artist, Title, Units, Chart Date
1, Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, 4.002 million, Oct. 18, 2025
2, Adele, 25, 3.482 million, Dec. 12, 2015
3, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 2.610 million, May 4, 2024
4, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), 1.653 million, Nov. 11, 2023
5, Taylor Swift, Midnights, 1.578 million, Nov. 5, 2022
6, Taylor Swift, reputation, 1.238 million, Dec. 2, 2017
7, Adele, 25, 1.193 million, Jan. 9, 2016*
8, Adele, 25, 1.162 million, Dec. 19, 2015*
9, Drake, Views, 1.039 million, May 21, 2016
10, Taylor Swift, Lover, 867,000, Sept. 7, 2019
(Equivalent album units source: Luminate; All weeks are debuts, except for those marked with an asterisk.)

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The Life of a Showgirl sold a staggering 1.334 million copies on vinyl across its eight editions — the biggest week in the modern era for an album on vinyl. Swift now holds eight of the top 10-selling weeks on vinyl since 1991, including the top six.

In 2024, Swift had five of the year’s top 10-selling albums on vinyl, and she sold more albums on vinyl in 2024 than any other artist. 2024 also marked the 18th consecutive year that industry-wide vinyl sales increased.

Rank, Artist, Title, Sales, Chart Date
1, Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, 1.334 million, Oct. 18, 2025
2, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 859,000, May 4, 2024
3, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), 693,000, Nov. 11, 2023
4, Taylor Swift, Midnights, 575,000, Nov. 2, 2022
5, Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 268,000, July 22, 2023
6, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 191,000, Dec. 14, 2024*
7, Harry Styles, Harry’s House, 182,000, June 4, 2022
8, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 164,000, Dec. 21, 2024*
9, Taylor Swift, Lover: Live From Paris, 161,000, Jan. 25, 2025
10, Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend, 160,000, Sept. 13, 2025
(Vinyl album sales source: Luminate; All weeks are debuts, except for those marked with an asterisk.)

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The Life of a Showgirl’s tracks generated 680.90 million on-demand official streams in its first week, which marks the largest streaming week of 2025 for an album. Swift holds the overall record for the biggest streaming week for an album, when The Tortured Poets Department bowed with 891.37 million; via 31 songs on its deluxe edition. During The Life of a Showgirl’s first week, there were multiple versions of the album available on streaming services: a standard 12-song edition, a track-by-track commentary edition that includes the 12 songs plus commentary tracks from Swift, and a track-by-track commentary edition that has Swift’s commentary and lyric videos for each of the songs.

Below are the largest streaming weeks for an album.

Rank, Artist, Title, Streams, Chart Date
1, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 891.37 million, May 4, 2024
2, Drake, Scorpion, 745.92 million, July 14, 2018
3, Drake, Certified Lover Boy, 743.67 million, Sept. 18, 2021
4, Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, 680.90 million, Oct. 18, 2025
5, Taylor Swift, Midnights, 549.26 million, Nov. 5, 2022
6, Drake, For All the Dogs, 514.01 million, Oct. 21, 2023
7, Drake & 21 Savage, Her Loss, 513.56 million, Nov. 19, 2022
8, Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time, 498.28 million, March 18, 2023
9, Morgan Wallen, I’m the Problem, 462.63 million, May 31, 2025
10, Lil Wayne, Tha Carter V, 433.02 million, Oct. 13, 2018
(Streams reflect the total number of on-demand official streams generated by the tracks on the album in a week; streaming data source: Luminate)

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The Life of a Showgirl is the only debut in the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is pushed down to No. 2 with 96,000 equivalent album units for the week (down 7%) and the rest of the top six titles are also former No. 1s. Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem falls 2-3 (82,000, down 7%), Cardi B’s AM I THE DRAMA? shifts 3-4 (63,000, down 24%), Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is a non-mover at No. 5 (50,000, down 12%) and Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS jumps 10-6 (41,000, up 5% after he hosted the season premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Oct. 4).

Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving rises 8-7 in its second week on the Billboard 200 (35,000, down 19%), Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid lifts 11-8 (32,000, down 6%), SZA’s chart-topping SOS steps 12-9 (nearly 32,000, down 2%) and Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time ascends 13-10 (31,000, down 2%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

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Here is a look at the acts with the most No. 1 albums since the Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.

19, The Beatles
15, Taylor Swift
14, Drake
14, JAY-Z
11, Eminem
11, Future
11, Bruce Springsteen
11, Barbra Streisand
11, Ye (Kanye West)
10, Elvis Presley
9, Garth Brooks
9, Kenny Chesney
9, Madonna
9, The Rolling Stones

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In December 2014, the Billboard 200 began ranking the week’s most popular albums by equivalent album units. Previously, the chart was ranked by pure album sales (purchases of physical and digital albums). Here’s a recap of the top 10 biggest weeks, by units — six belonging to Swift — since December 2014.

Rank, Artist, Title, Units, Chart Date
1, Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, 4.002 million, Oct. 18, 2025
2, Adele, 25, 3.482 million, Dec. 12, 2015
3, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 2.610 million, May 4, 2024
4, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), 1.653 million, Nov. 11, 2023
5, Taylor Swift, Midnights, 1.578 million, Nov. 5, 2022
6, Taylor Swift, reputation, 1.238 million, Dec. 2, 2017
7, Adele, 25, 1.193 million, Jan. 9, 2016*
8, Adele, 25, 1.162 million, Dec. 19, 2015*
9, Drake, Views, 1.039 million, May 21, 2016
10, Taylor Swift, Lover, 867,000, Sept. 7, 2019
(Equivalent album units source: Luminate; All weeks are debuts, except for those marked with an asterisk.)

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The Life of a Showgirl sold a staggering 1.334 million copies on vinyl across its eight editions — the biggest week in the modern era for an album on vinyl. Swift now holds eight of the top 10-selling weeks on vinyl since 1991, including the top six.

In 2024, Swift had five of the year’s top 10-selling albums on vinyl, and she sold more albums on vinyl in 2024 than any other artist. 2024 also marked the 18th consecutive year that industry-wide vinyl sales increased.

Rank, Artist, Title, Sales, Chart Date
1, Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, 1.334 million, Oct. 18, 2025
2, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 859,000, May 4, 2024
3, Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), 693,000, Nov. 11, 2023
4, Taylor Swift, Midnights, 575,000, Nov. 2, 2022
5, Taylor Swift, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 268,000, July 22, 2023
6, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 191,000, Dec. 14, 2024*
7, Harry Styles, Harry’s House, 182,000, June 4, 2022
8, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 164,000, Dec. 21, 2024*
9, Taylor Swift, Lover: Live From Paris, 161,000, Jan. 25, 2025
10, Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend, 160,000, Sept. 13, 2025
(Vinyl album sales source: Luminate; All weeks are debuts, except for those marked with an asterisk.)

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The Life of a Showgirl’s tracks generated 680.90 million on-demand official streams in its first week, which marks the largest streaming week of 2025 for an album. Swift holds the overall record for the biggest streaming week for an album, when The Tortured Poets Department bowed with 891.37 million; via 31 songs on its deluxe edition. During The Life of a Showgirl’s first week, there were multiple versions of the album available on streaming services: a standard 12-song edition, a track-by-track commentary edition that includes the 12 songs plus commentary tracks from Swift, and a track-by-track commentary edition that has Swift’s commentary and lyric videos for each of the songs.

Below are the largest streaming weeks for an album.

Rank, Artist, Title, Streams, Chart Date
1, Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department, 891.37 million, May 4, 2024
2, Drake, Scorpion, 745.92 million, July 14, 2018
3, Drake, Certified Lover Boy, 743.67 million, Sept. 18, 2021
4, Taylor Swift, The Life of a Showgirl, 680.90 million, Oct. 18, 2025
5, Taylor Swift, Midnights, 549.26 million, Nov. 5, 2022
6, Drake, For All the Dogs, 514.01 million, Oct. 21, 2023
7, Drake & 21 Savage, Her Loss, 513.56 million, Nov. 19, 2022
8, Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time, 498.28 million, March 18, 2023
9, Morgan Wallen, I’m the Problem, 462.63 million, May 31, 2025
10, Lil Wayne, Tha Carter V, 433.02 million, Oct. 13, 2018
(Streams reflect the total number of on-demand official streams generated by the tracks on the album in a week; streaming data source: Luminate)

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The Life of a Showgirl is the only debut in the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is pushed down to No. 2 with 96,000 equivalent album units for the week (down 7%) and the rest of the top six titles are also former No. 1s. Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem falls 2-3 (82,000, down 7%), Cardi B’s AM I THE DRAMA? shifts 3-4 (63,000, down 24%), Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend is a non-mover at No. 5 (50,000, down 12%) and Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS jumps 10-6 (41,000, up 5% after he hosted the season premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night Live on Oct. 4).

Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving rises 8-7 in its second week on the Billboard 200 (35,000, down 19%), Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid lifts 11-8 (32,000, down 6%), SZA’s chart-topping SOS steps 12-9 (nearly 32,000, down 2%) and Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time ascends 13-10 (31,000, down 2%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.