1 minute ago, Gaia said:

Adele because unlike both NSYNC and Taylor, hers was not fanbase driven. It was genuine anticipation after the biggest album this century and one of the biggest singles this century.

 

Not only did 25 Sell 3.4M copies first week, but it also sold over 1M copies in two other weeks that year. Absolutely monstrous and unheard of success.

 

Additionally, Hello is the only song in history (I believe) to sell over 1M copies in a single week. 2015 Adele was just absolutely untouchable. Every single person was awaiting her follow up to 21. It was something I'll never forget. Even the simple "hello... its me" TV spot left people shook.

 

Now we have Taylor about to break that record with this SHEIN level fast fashion-esque music where she pumps out 100 variants to secure sales solely because she wants records. It's just disingenuous and quantity over quality. Is it impressive she has a bunch of brain dead fans that buy millions of albums before hearing anything just to blindly support a billionaire they like to infantilize? Absolutely. Her marketing power is phenomenal. But is it more impressive than selling based off solely the hype and music and not shenanigans? No.

 

Remove the vinyl variants, limited availability, and discount digital variants she always adds in the middle of tracking weeks, and her sales are still monstrous, but not record breaking.

Oh when you add "Hello" to the mix it doesn't even become a question anymore and the two 1M+ selling weeks whew 

 

We'll see if Taylor reaches 7M in 5 weeks like Adele did with a 10 week #1 global smash in 30+ countries

 

 

 

 

Even considering variants… I just think Taylor's insane numbers are just crazy. Like she's kinda entering lower end AAA video game franchise first week numbers in one country. It's absurd.

 

That being said Adele's is very impressive since the primary driving factor, without many other bells and whistles, was her music and the cross-generational appeal she had. But even with the marketing push of TLOAS, it's beyond impressive to have that many sales with or without variants, cause at this point I'm convinced the Swifties would have just made it happen somehow anyways + the GP interest streams.

Both super impressive

 

Adele is lucky she's coming from a gigantic era, a long break and a very much anticipated comeback. She will need that aspects again to sell 1 million.

 

Taylor is coming from a "mid" era compared to her peaks just a year ago. She's just doing it casually. And she will do it again her power is just insane

Imagine listening to a Taylor Swift album in 2025 …. So embarrassing 

adele. not really a discussion tbh. 25 was an event. everyone was tuned in.

This will be Taylor's 8th million opening, so Her. 

Adele's 

especially considering that her album has a song as perfect as I Miss You on it, pure and simple talent won there

Both are impressive to be honest but one was more shocking than the other.

 

I am a Swiftie but Adele breaking the record was more shocking because at that time, I think no one expected that the record would be broken. Taylor passed the million mark three times already at that point but was never close to breaking NSYNC's record let alone she can't even beat Britney's.

 

With Showgirl, I think of all musicians, people knew it was only Taylor who could beat 25's record. With Midnights cracking the million mark, we knew that the only way she would go is up. And so she did with 1989TV and Tortured Poets and now finally, Showgirl.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Taylor did it because she perfectly mastered how to promote her art well. She isn't a one trick pony, she is a trier and breaking 25's record was because of her and her team's long years of hardwork.

Adele will remain more impactful but it's fun to watch Taylor making everyone seethe.

Taylor is doing it 19 years into her career and is 8x larger than the next highest debut in the last few years from a different artist.  
 

Adele did it 7 years into her career and is only 3x larger than other artists at the time.  
 

 

since 8x is more impressive than 3x, I guess Taylor wins this. 

Adele fans mad at Taylor because she's

about to break Adele's first week record.

 

 

Taylor fans mad at Coldplay because they

will break Swift's highest grossing tour record.

 

 

And the cycle continues.

 

 

...Vin

35 minutes ago, byzantium said:

Taylor is doing it 19 years into her career and is 8x larger than the next highest debut in the last few years from a different artist.  
 

Adele did it 7 years into her career and is only 3x larger than other artists at the time.  
 

 

since 8x is more impressive than 3x, I guess Taylor wins this. 

it's giving 

33 minutes ago, ImpressMeMuch said:

nawrthis can't be real 

I don't think we'll ever get the data but I'm curious how many fans are buying multiple versions of Showgirl. 

 

That would help the discussion a bit. There seems to be this idea that most fans are buying multiple?

 

I'm also wondering if Taylor has entered a scalper-esque market. Some of Taylor's limited edition vinyls are now collector's items. 

 

The way that Taylor's album is being consumed is fundamentally different to Adele which makes this comparison hard

1 hour ago, Appletree said:

Imagine listening to a Taylor Swift album in 2025 …. So embarrassing 

Wow congrats for not being like the other girls, Appletree!

 

2 hours ago, Cruel Summer said:

In real life, the answer is the one with the higher number in the significantly weaker market for pure sales and first weeks.

 

Let's not forget the industry thought numbers that will end up being a less than a third, maybe even a fourth of Showgirl's first week were literally impossible to achieve anymore: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2021/12/03/the-era-of-albums-debuting-with-one-million-copies-is-officially-over/

 

No matter how much people want to pretend this is largely a result of mass buying, there's been generally no evidence published to suggest the average Taylor fan buys physical media any more than average consumers. This is purely unprecedented commercial power.

You have Swifties on here bragging about having bought multiple copies so just stop. Also, as good sis @Gaia already stated, if Taylor didn't need the variants she wouldn't do them. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Popboi. said:

Obviously the one with a bigger debut at a much more dead music market 

The way you know nothing about charts but keep yapping. 

Taylor's record is NSync and Adele's is the Backstreet Boys. NSync outsold BSB because of fans buying multiple copies but BSB's album ended up selling more overall. Taylor's panned album would need to sell 20M+ to come close to Adele. If it doesn't it will have lost to Adele's album ultimately. 

It will always be Adele. 
 

While Taylor selling that much in this climate is impressive despite whatever tactics she might use,  25 was an actual phenomenon among a huge diverse range of demographics. It was an event beyond just the internet spaces. Even stores were dedicating separate Adele 25 sections to lure customers. Plus noone really expected her to sell that much in the first week to begin with, so there was no feverish attempts by a fanbase to break any records. She simply did, with only 2 variants at that. 

Edited October 7, 20251 yr by Witnessed ET

both. this is taylor's 8th 1m+ debut and no one has and will ever do that ever so...

of course Taylor breaking Adele'25 with no streaming available in a month.

Vinyl $40 each vs $8 iTunes album 

 

no one can sell 1M++ in 2020s except Taylor, even Adele couldn't even do that again with 30 

 

Sell 3M Pure copies in 2025 is equivalent with 7M in 2015 btw 

One is talent and admiration

 

Other is capitalist and a product, not art. Actually shtting new 5 variants every day and I am not even exaggerating.

20 minutes ago, Doctor Dick said:

 

 

The way you know nothing about charts but keep yapping. 

 

17 minutes ago, Doctor Dick said:

Taylor's panned album would need to sell 20M+ to come close to Adele.

Taylor's record, while very impressive, never surprised me because I'm aware of how big and dedicated her fan base is. Adele's fanbase seems like it's the entire GP, so I guess that's more impressive to me.

@ me when that taylor album does anything remotely close to as iconic as this