American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s album “Lover” broke a new record for an international artist in China on Friday, surpassing one million combined total streams, downloads and sales within a week of its release.
The total makes it China’s most-consumed full-length international album ever in such a short space of time.
Released on Aug 23, “Lover” is expected to reach 825,000-850,000 equivalent album sales in its first week in the United States, according to Billboard magazine.
Featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco for songs “ME!” and “You Need to Calm Down”, which has a music video starring a plethora of celebrities and LGBTQ stars including Katy Perry, Laverne Cox, Ellen Degeneres, and Adam Rippon.
The music video for the title track “Lover” was released last week and is set in a doll-house-like series of vignettes, moving from room to room as Swift plays instruments including drums, a violin and a guitar.
Swift’s previous albums “1989” and “Reputation” both surpassed one million consumptions in China, but over a longer period of time.
Taylor Swift started the “Lover” era at No.1 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, pulling in pretax income of $185 million over the past year, her biggest earnings total yet.
Her estimated pay grew 131 per cent, after clocking in at $80 million in 2018.
In 2018, Netflix brought the Reputation Stadium Tour to living rooms on New Years Eve, after acquiring the exclusive rights to the tour for a live concert special. The streaming giant’s payout and endorsement deals with Apple, AT&T and Diet Coke added millions to Swift’s coffers. -/TISG