Taylor Swift Notches a Ninth Week at No. 1 With New CD Versions

The spring of Taylor Swift has become the summer of Taylor Swift as the singer’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” holds for a ninth straight week at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

The 31-track LP, released on April 19, has continued to rack up sales and streams — thanks in part to special edition “versions” with bonus tracks — earning another 126,000 sales units, including 121 million streams and 33,000 copies sold as a full package, according to the tracking service Luminate.

Album sales were up 42 percent with a boost from two new CD variations, sold exclusively by Swift’s web store, that each featured a different acoustic bonus song, Billboard reported; the CDs were available for a limited period of time in early June but shipped to customers last week, counting toward the latest chart totals.

“The Tortured Poets Department” now has the second-most weeks at No. 1 of any Swift album, behind “1989” and “Fearless,” each of which spent 11 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200.

Also this week, Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” holds at No. 2 in its fifth week out, with 84,000 units; the rapper and singer Don Toliver’s “Hardstone Psycho,” which features Travis Scott and Future, debuts at No. 3 with 76,500 units; Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” is No. 4 with 73,000 units; and the underground rap duo Suicideboys’s “New World Depression” is No. 5 with 66,000 units.

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

• Chart Wars: “The Tortured Poets Department” logs a fourth week at No. 1. Next week’s competition is a battle between Billie Eilish and Swift with multiple versions of their LPs for sale.

• A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards.

• ‘The Tortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name, weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think? 

• In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship.

• Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram. The singer, who some believe has enough influence to affect the result of the election, has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

• Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated, largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The pop star’s fans are shaking them off.