--- title: Taylor Swift: '1989' Album Sales Could Beat a Britney Spears Record description: Her fifth album is on track to sell more than 1.3 million copies canonical: https://time.com/3553658/taylor-swift-1989-album-sales-britney-spears/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-02T23:08:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:10:19.087Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Taylor Swift's '1989' Sales Could Beat a Record Currently Held by Britney Spears og:description: Her fifth album is on track to sell more than 1.3 million copies og:url: https://time.com/3553658/taylor-swift-1989-album-sales-britney-spears/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858b0cc105283260/698763de5f570ffebbb130a0/458100010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Taylor Swift Epic 1989 Times Square Concert On GMA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taylor Swift's '1989' Sales Could Beat a Record Currently Held by Britney Spears twitter:description: Her fifth album is on track to sell more than 1.3 million copies twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858b0cc105283260/698763de5f570ffebbb130a0/458100010.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Taylor Swift's _1989_ on Track to Break Sales Records  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 2, 2014 11:08 PM UTC  Taylor Swift performs on "Good Morning America" on Oct. 30, 2014 in New York. Taylor Swift performs on "Good Morning America" on Oct. 30, 2014 in New York.Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Nov 2, 2014 11:08 PM UTC Welcome to the top of the charts — [it’s been waiting for her](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6304336/taylor-swift-1989-biggest-sales-week-since-2002). Taylor Swift’s _1989_ could sell more than 1.3 million copies by the end of Sunday, _Billboard_ reports, which means the pop star could set the record for the biggest-ever album sales week by a female artist. The current record-holder is Britney Spears, whose 2000 album, _Oops! … I Did It Again_, sold 1.319 million copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But that’s not all: _1989_ is expected to have the largest sales week for _any_ album since 2002, when Eminem sold 1.322 million copies of _The Eminem Show_ in its first week. That’s not too shabby considering how record sales [hit a historic low this past August](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/album-sales-hit-historic-low-falling-below-four-million-units-sold-20140829) and that streaming services have been taking a bite out of digital sales. ([Not that you’ll find Swift’s album on Spotify.](http://time.com/3544039/taylor-swift-1989-spotify/)) Fans will find out if the former country star really did dethrone Spears with her “first documented, official pop album” when final sales figures are announced on Nov. 5\. In the meantime, artists might want to take a look at Taylor Swift’s [op-ed in the Wall Street _Journal_](http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-taylor-swift-the-future-of-music-is-a-love-story-1404763219) about the future of the music industry — clearly her advice is worth following. \[[_Billboard_](http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6304336/taylor-swift-1989-biggest-sales-week-since-2002)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3553658/taylor-swift-1989-album-sales-britney-spears/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3553658/taylor-swift-1989-album-sales-britney-spears/"},"headline":"Taylor Swift's 1989 on Track to Break Sales Records","datePublished":"2014-11-02T23:08:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:10:19.087Z","description":"Her fifth album is on track to sell more than 1.3 million copies","url":"https://time.com/3553658/taylor-swift-1989-album-sales-britney-spears/","keywords":["Music","Spotify","Taylor Swift","Music Industry","Eminem","Britney Spears"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858b0cc105283260/698763de5f570ffebbb130a0/458100010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt858b0cc105283260/698763de5f570ffebbb130a0/458100010.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Taylor Swift Epic 1989 Times Square Concert On GMA","caption":"Taylor Swift Epic 1989 Times Square Concert On GMA","creditText":"Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3553658/taylor-swift-1989-album-sales-britney-spears/","name":"Taylor Swift's 1989 on Track to Break Sales Records"}}]}] ```