‘Midnights’ by Taylor Swift is now challenging Britney Spears’ ‘Oops!… I Did It Again’ (1.31M) for second-biggest sales week for a female album in US history

[dustinray1987]

I like how most on here blame it on her fans buying multiple copies, because Britney fans don’t do that do we? 

[ronron]

14 minutes ago, dustinray1987 said:

I like how most on here blame it on her fans buying multiple copies, because Britney fans don’t do that do we? 

We didnt back then

[dustinray1987]

7 minutes ago, ronron said:

We didnt back then

No, we do now and my point is we couldn’t get those sales on glory with fans buying multiple copies and streaming. So either Taylor has a bigger fan base or Britneys fans have turned lazy. 

[MasterMindz]

1 hour ago, dustinray1987 said:

I would like to to see Britney bring in those number for a tenth album. I mean you have to go hand it to Taylor she has been around a long time and on her tenth album still bringing in those numbers. I don’t remember Glory bringing in those numbers 

 

2 hours ago, bitbitboi said:

It's incomparable. Even Britney says it:

Also, BACK IN THE DAY each person actually lifted their 4sses off their seats and went to a store and bought a copy. It was an event. Only true fans or those who were really feeling the era would be that invested to do that. Now it's mostly teenagers clicking on their computers and buying multiple copies (with their parents' money) just to ease their anxiety and collect everything and then brag to other fans online that they got everything.

I also think TS is milking her fans by releasing a bazillion versions of each album just to sell more copies, and exploiting their fans' love and admiration, but at the same time I don't think they really notice it because her fan base are basically rich teenagers and rich white gay men.

And yes I'm pressed, especially because FAKE US FANS only bought 111,000 copies of the masterpiece that is "Glory" the first week. Shame on you. So now we deserve a savvy businesswoman to shamelessly steal this historical record from Britney and from us. I live in Argentina and I'm almost broke but I can spend 10 dollars on my fave to buy a freaking album every three years omg I'm so pissed at the Army, I can't even tell you 

You make great points. But other people on here also need to understand that 2022 is not 2000, and that streaming defines today's success. Taylor's massive streaming numbers have nothing to do with purchasing in bulks or having multiple versions of an album. Both Lover and Folklore barely left the top 40 since they were released, and its all because of streaming. With or without the sales, the album is massive breaking streaming records everywhere. 

Not to mention that in 2000, there were deals with magazines, posters, signing your CDs, etc.. marketing deals always existed. And record labels always exploited fans.

Plus, only dedicated fans do physical purchases and Taylor has alot of them. I personally baught the physical copy.  But I also baught Glory both physical and digital, purchased every single on itunes and Amazon, and I have the vinyl. 

This doesn't make artists desperate the way many comments on here are claiming. Just a few weeks ago we were aggressively purchasing, streaming, and requesting  Hold Me Closer to score a top 10 hit. It's both normal and okay for fans to show support if they can afford it (Personally, my credit card does ).

[bitbitboi]

3 minutes ago, MasterMindz said:

 

You make great points. But other people on here also need to understand that 2022 is not 2000, and that streaming defines today's success. Taylor's massive streaming numbers have nothing to do with purchasing in bulks or having multiple versions of an album. Both Lover and Folklore barely left the top 40 since they were released, and its all because of streaming. With or without the sales, the album is massive breaking streaming records everywhere. 

Not to mention that in 2000, there were deals with magazines, posters, signing your CDs, etc.. marketing deals always existed. And record labels always exploited fans.

Plus, only dedicated fans do physical purchases and Taylor has alot of them. I personally baught the physical copy.  But I also baught Glory both physical and digital, purchased every single on itunes and Amazon, and I have the vinyl. 

This doesn't make artists desperate the way many comments on here are claiming. Just a few weeks ago we were aggressively purchasing, streaming, and requesting  Hold Me Closer to score a top 10 hit. It's both normal and okay for fans to show support if they can afford it (Personally, my credit card does ).

I was following you until your last point. Taylor IS desperate for numbers. She works for that as hard as she works on her lyrics and visuals, that's why I called her a businesswoman.

[MasterMindz]

1 minute ago, bitbitboi said:

I was following you until your last point. Taylor IS desperate for numbers. She works for that as hard as she works on her lyrics and visuals, that's why I called her a businesswoman.

I mean sadly legacies are defined by grammy wins, numbers 1s, and sale numbers. That's the only thing you hear when an artist passes away (except Michael Jackson). Taylor is an artist, and a businesswoman, why not? She isn't forcing anyone to buy anything. Red (TV) opened with massive numbers, but there were no tactics. 

[dustinray1987]

6 minutes ago, bitbitboi said:

I was following you until your last point. Taylor IS desperate for numbers. She works for that as hard as she works on her lyrics and visuals, that's why I called her a businesswoman.

She is a damn good business woman too! I think other artists could take some pointers from her. I wish Britney rolled out an album release like Taylor does. It just blows my mind that people are mad because she came up with a way to sell albums. Isn’t that the point in the music industry?! 

[super.nova]

14 hours ago, britney_rocks said:

Weren’t some people here trying to buy Hold Me Closer multiple times not too long ago?  

that’s so ridiculous; I would never in my life buy a song or album more than once to just “push numbers” if the artists’ want their records to sell, then put together a good record and promote it… otherwise go **** yourself, I work hard for my money and so should artists.

[Stan2092]

OIDIA >

[Dave92]

39 minutes ago, leviathan said:

that’s so ridiculous; I would never in my life buy a song or album more than once to just “push numbers” if the artists’ want their records to sell, then put together a good record and promote it… otherwise go **** yourself, I work hard for my money and so should artists.

True. I don’t mind streaming and even requesting but I work way too hard to purchase multiple copies of the same thing just to help millionaires (likeable as they may be) rank higher on charts. 

[GlitterRain]

Taylor’s so boring I can’t. Sometimes when I’m having a bad day, I just picture her attempting to dance and it makes me laugh 

[super.nova]

5 minutes ago, Dave92 said:

True. I don’t mind streaming and even requesting but I work way too hard to purchase multiple copies of the same thing just to help millionaires (likeable as they may be) rank higher on charts. 

not to mention that if a song or album doesn’t chart high or sells well it’s because it’s not a good product… and the artists needs to know this; not be lead to believe they are good because some idiots bought their album 17 times… it gives the artist and the label the idea that they don’t even need to put out a good product, meaning, we the normal consumer, is the one that loses in the end.

I understand you may want different versions of the same album; like a deluxe version or maybe a vinyl or a cassette or maybe even a special version or anniversary… whatever that’s fine… or maybe you want to keep a copy sealed and one that you actually use because maybe you collect them… or whatever reason; but getting multiple copies just to push numbers? it’s literally embarrassing and obsessive.

people need to understand that this is how you send a message. if the album is good it’ll sell on its own, you don’t need to artificially do it… if it’s not good, LET IT FLOP, and the artist will try harder next time, or realize they don’t got the magic and switch directions.

[MikeHunt]

4 minutes ago, GlitterRain said:

Taylor’s so boring I can’t. Sometimes when I’m having a bad day, I just picture her attempting to dance and it makes me laugh 

She’s on her way to beating Britney’s record at Brits peak, and Taylor is a decade plus into her career without announcing a lead single before, a music video, live performances, interviews, and only doing mini Tik toks. Where as Britney was everywhere during her promo for Oops. I think Britney is a better vocalist, dancer, entertainer and more beautiful but I guess Gen Z doesn’t care about talent, as much as they like like-ability, solving Easter egg drama, and relating more to an average looking woman, rather than an classically beautiful woman with a natural body that intimidates them. 

[GlitterRain]

2 minutes ago, MikeHunt said:

She’s on her way to beating Britney’s record at Brits peak, and Taylor is a decade plus into her career without announcing a lead single before, a music video, live performances, interviews, and only doing mini Tik toks. Where as Britney was everywhere during her promo for Oops. I think Britney is a better vocalist, dancer, entertainer and more beautiful but I guess Gen Z doesn’t care about talent, as much as they like like-ability, solving Easter egg drama, and relating more to an average looking woman, rather than an classically beautiful woman with a natural body that intimidates them. 

Britney will always be #1 

[danielgeismas]

18 hours ago, i sometimes sing live said:

  Hide contents

 

who made this lmaoo

[Anti-Hero]

I LOVE Oops. It would be very impressive to beat that number in the streaming era. But you know what they say, records are meant to be broken.

[SosEtaSeth]

I seriously don't understand what's the big deal about this record. I mean, this fan base should've seen this coming a while back. That record has stood for far too long, and if anyone can pull the numbers to break it, it would be Taylor Swift.

[Anti-Hero]

5 hours ago, bitbitboi said:

Also, BACK IN THE DAY each person actually lifted their 4sses off their seats and went to a store and bought a copy. It was an event. Only true fans or those who were really feeling the era would be that invested to do that. Now it's mostly teenagers clicking on their computers and buying multiple copies (with their parents' money) just to ease their anxiety and collect everything and then brag to other fans online that they got everything.

There's a flaw to this logic though. If albums have become easier to purchase because of the internet, why have pure album sales been decreasing?

[Moscow]

49 minutes ago, Anti-Hero said:

There's a flaw to this logic though. If albums have become easier to purchase because of the internet, why have pure album sales been decreasing?

The logic isn't fully flawed, albums were easier to purchase back then because of the only option available then why only Britney became the first female or the first artist ever to open this possibility? After 90s sales were constantly declining due to piracy no one before Britney could do that especially women in the 80s when sales were all time high. 

While your statement is true, its much harder to sell albums now but it's not how it looks like it's all about good marketing if you mke your item collectible then fans are most likely to buy. 

As far as I know this album first came with some variants and then after it came onto singed variants making fans to make a double purchase. 'Collect all 4 variants' etc etc. 

While album like oops only had 1 variant to sell and it still had the sales of 5M within a week ww if it was easier back then Britney wouldn't have been the first. 

 

[Bigno]

I think part of the allure is that she does herself, she is honest and also, she does plan her rollouts to make them a total event. The average popstar is a trend chaser. If you think about it, when Madonna started getting nervous and wanted to be "in", she lost her touch. She was at her best when she was just following her instinct, but then, she felt she was going to be left behind and she started just falling apart with misguided songs and albums.

In Swift's case, she follows her instinct and it has payed off. Even though many songs in the album are absolute meh, she is not following anyone. She does sound an awful lot like a Lorde wanna be sometimes, then Billie, then Lana, but at least she is revisiting 8 year to a decade old sounds.