How Taylor Swift rewrote the business of record sales

For almost a decade, Adele’s 25 has held the record for first-week album sales with nearly 3.5 million. That mark appeared insurmountable until Taylor Swift released The Life of a Showgirl on Oct. 3. The pop star blew past Adele's total in five days, ultimately earning a hair more than 4-million sales.

- Elias Leight [e-mail]

Taylor Swift sold over four million copies of The Life of a Showgirl with the help of 38 variations of the album.

(REUTERS)

In 2015, Adele kept her album off streaming services, ensuring that anyone who wanted to hear it that first week would have to buy it. Last week, Swift relied on a different tactic to get to 4 million.

She put out 38 variations of The Life of a Showgirl, according to Billboard, including CDs, vinyl records, digital downloads and a cassette, some of which featured acoustic versions of certain songs, voice memos and even jewelry.

Fans who wanted bonus tunes or knickknacks or just aimed to champion their favorite artist bought multiple copies.

“I've worked with her and her team many times on new releases; she is one of the best marketers I've seen in my lifetime,” said Rob Miller, a 35-year veteran of radio who serves as brand manager at WNEW, an adult pop station in New York.

Releasing numerous variations of an album has become increasingly popular as artists aim to give their most ardent fans more ways to support them—while also boosting their first-week totals in a fiercely competitive industry. (Album sales numbers reported by Billboard incorporate streams along with purchases of physical copies and downloads.) When Swift, coming off the highest-grossing tour in history, applies this approach, it's akin to watching Cal Raleigh in a home-run derby; the result is a foregone conclusion. A representative for the singer did not respond to a request for comment.