Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department tops the Billboard Hot 200 for 15th week… and it’s NOT due to digital variants

Taylor Swift continued to assert her dominance by reaching the top Billboard Hit 200 with her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, in the charts for the 15th consecutive week.

The 34-year-old pop star managed to sell an additional 85,000 equivalent album units from the album in the United States (13,000 more than newcomer Chappell Roan), so she would still have been number one even if she had sold zero digital album downloads in the past week – according to Billboard.

Some in the industry criticised Taylor for ‘blocking’ her rivals by continually releasing new digital and live versions of TTPD, which this week reached 10,000 downloads again.

Swift’s recent digital releases include The Prophecy (Long Story Short – Live From Lyon), recorded on June 2, and thank You aimEe (Mean – Live from London), recorded on June 22.

When the 14-time Grammy winner released the double album The Anthology on April 18, all 31 songs were in the top 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously for the first time in chart history.

Taylor Swift continued her dominance by topping the Billboard Hot 200 chart for the 15th consecutive week with her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department

The 34-year-old pop star managed to sell an additional 85,000 equivalent album units from the album in the United States (13,000 more than newcomer Chappell Roan), so she would still have been at Number One even if she had sold zero digital album downloads in the past week.

The 34-year-old pop star managed to sell an additional 85,000 equivalent album units from the album in the United States (13,000 more than newcomer Chappell Roan), so she would still have been at Number One even if she had sold zero digital album downloads in the past week.

On Spotify, where Taylor averages 91.6 million monthly listeners, TTPD made history as the first album to reach one billion streams in a single week (in just five days).

‘The Tormented Poets Department’ [is] an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and feelings from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time — a moment that was both sensational and sad,’ Swift — who has 551.3 million followers on social media — wrote in april.

‘This period in the author’s life is now over, the chapter is closed and boarded up. There is nothing left to avenge, no scores to settle once the wounds have healed. And on closer inspection, a good many of them are self-inflicted.

“This writer is a firm believer that our tears become sacred in the form of ink on a page. Once we have told our saddest story, we can be freed from it. And then only the tormented poetry remains.”

The Pennsylvania-born hitmaker is currently enjoying a much-needed break from her $1.039 billion, 149-concert The Eras Tour, which doesn’t resume until October 18-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Taylor will next compete for 10 Moonperson trophies, including Artist of the Year, at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, airing September 10 from UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.

Swift only has two more archive albums (Taylor Swift and Reputation) to re-record after her scheming ex-manager Scooter Braun, now retired from the music industry, lost the rights to the first six master recordings.

On a personal note, Emmy-winning producer and three-time Super Bowl champion Travis Kelce celebrated their first anniversary last month.

Some in the industry had criticized Taylor for

Some in the industry had criticized Taylor for “blocking” her rivals by continually releasing new digital and live versions of TTPD, which this week reached 10,000 downloads again (pictured last Thursday)

Swift's recent digital releases include The Prophecy (Long Story Short – Live From Lyon), recorded on June 2, and thank You aimEe (Mean – Live from London), recorded on June 22.

Swift’s recent digital releases include The Prophecy (Long Story Short – Live From Lyon), recorded on June 2, and thank You aimEe (Mean – Live from London), recorded on June 22.

When the 14-time Grammy winner released the double-album edition The Anthology on April 18, all 31 songs simultaneously occupied the top 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in chart history.

When the 14-time Grammy winner released the double-album edition The Anthology on April 18, all 31 songs simultaneously occupied the top 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in chart history.

On Spotify, where Taylor averages 91.6 million monthly listeners, TTPD made history as the first album to amass a billion streams in a single week (in just five days)

On Spotify, where Taylor averages 91.6 million monthly listeners, TTPD made history as the first album to amass a billion streams in a single week (in just five days)

Swift is currently enjoying a much-needed break from her $1.039 billion-grossing, 149-date The Eras Tour, which doesn't resume until October 18-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL.

Swift is currently enjoying a much-needed break from her $1.039 billion-grossing, 149-date The Eras Tour, which doesn’t resume until October 18-20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL.

The Pennsylvania-born hitmaker will next compete for 10 Moonperson trophies — including artist of the year — at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, airing September 10 from UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.

The Pennsylvania-born hitmaker will next compete for 10 Moonperson trophies — including artist of the year — at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, airing September 10 from UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.