Both are absolutely bonkers. 

 

Both had gimmicks, but Taylor arguably had more so you can be tempted to say Adele was more impressive, and that would be fine. But if you compare in terms of landscape, Adele did "only" 3 times as much as the nearest competition (Taylor with 1M+). In Taylor's case, she's set to do 7 to 8 times as much as the nearest competition (Morgan with 500k+). Relatively to their market, Taylor's performance is more exceptional than Adele's was. 

 

I'd say Taylor, because relatively to their market, gimmicks available, etc... TLOAS' performance is more impressive. But tbh, that's like arguing if the difference between 999 and 1000 is even relevant in the first place.

Edited October 7, 20251 yr by Incandescent Glow

2.7 million Americans watched the Showgirl film in theatres this weekend, you can all stop with the variants discourse. 

 

The most impressive debut is that one that was listened to by the most individuals during release week, which is Taylor by far. The album is available for free on Youtube and 10 million+ Americans listened on streaming, all while fans were busy spinning their vinyls and CD's.

 

 

Edited October 7, 20251 yr by Arrows

Give Adele 100 variants for her next album and 1 only for Taylor and Taylor would still outsell 

Taylor breaking adele's record... she always had that huge fanbase and they are wealthier... probably have more income and parasocial relationship wih Taylor...

4 hours ago, Vin said:

Oops!... I Did It Again record with no variants.

 

 

...Vin

That's so true. The Tea. PeriodT

 

Adele's sold copies because people wanted to listen to the music, it was the only way to hear the album.

 

Taylor's is selling copies because in 2025 pure sales are basically the most important collectible merch item for fans. It's like owning a piece of the artist you love, but it's not necessarily about hearing the music via that purchase, most of those fans will then stream the album on Spotify anyway.

 

Two totally different approaches to marketing and intended for very different audiences. 25 was the last gasp of the general record-buying public. Believe it or not kids, 20-30 years ago, people would routinely go to record shops, which were everywhere, or the record sections of stores, and buy albums every so often the way people go see movies in theatres or go to make-up stores, it was just a thing you'd do, ingrained into the shopping experience and consumer behaviour. "Let's go to the record shop" was a thing. You'd spend hours perusing the latest albums. That is completely dead now, except for vinyl purchases at like Urban Outfitters and specialty stores, on a much smaller scale. So you don't have that casual buying audience anymore. Showgirl pure sales, with the endless variants and panic buying 24hr exclusives, is exclusively being marketed to hardcore fans, same audience the movie is intended for.

 

Random side note because I'm a statistics nerd: The pure sales numbers are actually quite close to the amount of movie tickets she sold this weekend, so I think we can reasonably estimate that if those people represent the hardcore fans, there are anywhere from 2.5 to 4 million hardcore Swifties in America.

Is Taylor gonna serve sth like this?

 

#1 - 3,377,885

#1 - 1,112,162

#1 - 695,043

#1 - 789,821

#1 - 1,157,296

 

If not, the answer is clear.

What's funny about pretending that Taylor's tactics to surpass Adele aren't diabolical is that it's only a matter of time before a kpop group is big enough in the US to play these exact games in order to surpass her. 

 

And when they do Swifties will be the first to cry fraud and shenanigans the same way they were doing in that Coldplay thread  about them adding 150 shows on their tour that will surpass the Eras tour.  

Taylor is doing this much further into her career and 9 years since anyone other than her debuted with more than 1 million, plus she's in her backlash era.

there really should be a limit of 1 deluxe / edition and 1 variant atleast for the first week of release

4 hours ago, GAGAISTHEBESTYA said:

Give Adele 100 variants for her next album and 1 only for Taylor and Taylor would still outsell 

Fact remains TS is doing these numbers because she's releasing 30 configurations and has never been away from the spotlight...not because the music is good.

 

She definitely wouldn't be pulling Adele's numbers with only 2 variants after a 4-5 year hiatus. 

 

So for that reason, it's Adele. 

Edited October 7, 20251 yr by 2000_Volts

1 minute ago, 2000_Volts said:

Fact remains TS is doing these numbers because she's releasing 30 configurations and has never been away from the spotlight...not because the music is good.

 

She definitely wouldn't be pulling Adele's numbers with 2 versions after a 5 year hiatus. 

Would've could've should've 

Both impressive. Regardless of Taylor's variants, the market is dead and she's the only one who can sell these variants, and the album is great. Who would've thought she would be able to beat the record after the already-mega-amazing TTPD debut? Like come on, THAT IS IMPRESSIVE.

ATRL has spoken - the more impressive breaking record: