Taylor Swift has broken the Billboard record for the most albums sold within the first week of release after selling 3.5 million copies of The Life of a Showgirl.
The record was previously held by Adele for her album 25, released in 2015, which sold 3.4 million in its first week.
Swift's 12th album's sales success has come despite the mixed reception it received from critics and fans.
But Swift herself doesn't seem phased.
"The rule of show business is if it's the first week of my album release, and you are saying either my name or my album title, you're helping," Swift told Zane Lowe in an interview with Apple Music.
Taylor Nation and a loyal fanbase
Swift has had a 19-year-long music career, earning her 14 Grammys and a net worth of $US1.6 billion. She has consistently set and broken records.
Former music executive and academic Tim Kelly said Swift's career success, including album sales, reflected her ability to mobilise her fan base, known as Swifties.
"The first week sales of an artist's record are already dependent on the passion of that artist's fan base," Mr Kelly said.
"It's not dependent on the quality of the recording because the people aren't waiting to see what it's going to be like; they just want to be part of it, part of the community, they want to hear the latest from the artist."
For some Swifties, that meant purchasing the album with no information — besides the title and tracklist — during a pre-sale she teased on her social media and website, before announcing the album on her now-fiance's podcast where she told fans what to expect.
Fan culture expert Georgia Carroll said Swift's social media marketing team, Taylor Nation, would have played a big role in driving pre-sales, which count towards her first week's sales count.
"Taylor has been known for engaging with her fans, surprising her fans," Dr Carroll said.
"Back in the day, we would get the secret sessions. When she released the Eras movie, certain fans got invited to the premiere and got to meet her.
"As far as fans are aware, the way this happens is by first getting on Taylor Nation's radar."
So, how do you get on Taylor Nation's radar? According to their interactions, spending money is a good way.
Dr Carroll said Taylor Nation often engaged with fans who shared receipts after purchasing items from Swift's online store.
"Without saying it explicitly, they're telling fans that a good fan, a real fan, a true fan of Taylor, a fan that deserves to be acknowledged and rewarded, is a fan who is buying everything that they put out," she said.
The variants
It also can't hurt sales when there have been 32 different variants for sale in the first week.
[variants table]Purchasing each version of the album would set you back a hefty $US676.30 ($1,030). But some fans will do that.
Dr Carroll said there were two reasons why: some variants have limited release, leaving fans with a fear of missing out, and some fans are "completionists," meaning they collect full sets.
"We see this a lot in more masculine fandoms, the idea of collecting sports jerseys, comic books, and vinyl collecting," she said.
Releasing album variants is not a new practice.
In 1979, David Bowie released a 7-inch vinyl for Ashes to Ashes with three different cover sleeves.
"The purpose of that was to get Bowie fans to buy multiple copies and send the single to number one, so this isn't a new thing," Mr Kelly said.
Streaming's role
While album variants have been around for decades, streaming has not.
Streaming now accounts for 67 per cent of music revenue globally, 84 per cent in the US and 91 per cent in Australia.
In the US, 1,250 premium audio streams, 3,750 ad-supported streams, or 3,750 video streams are equal to one album sale.
It sounds like a lot of listens, but Swift has many young fans, and young people love to repeat stuff.
"If you're a teenager and you're really into any artist, you will be playing [their] record 24/7," Mr Kelly said.
"Every time you play it, those sales counts will be going up.
"Whereas in the old, CD economy with Adele, someone would make a one-off purchase and then that would be it as far as calculations and sales scope."
Taylor Nation also encouraged streaming — sharing a schedule in the lead up to release of when to stream and where Swift would be.
Sales records or critical acclaim?
Swift's record-breaking sales week hasn't translated to critics, who had mixed reviews of the album.
Rolling Stone gave the album a 5-star review; The Guardian awarded it 2-stars; while review aggregation site Metacritic scored it 70/100.
Although that may not sound bad, it's Swift's lowest score since her debut self-titled album, which scored 67/100.
[scores]"Great art often takes years to reveal itself," Mr Kelly said.
"Often, it doesn't sell very much at the beginning and then it gets recognised at a later date."
Some Swifties have also taken to social media to express disappointment with the album, after Swift teased it as the beats of 1989 with the lyrics of Folklore.
Just as many fans have spoken highly of the album, saying they love it and describing it as "no skips".
Dr Carroll says, however, within the fandom, there is a fear of being "blacklisted" by Taylor Nation, and a negative review could be a one-way ticket to getting on their bad side.
"There's this culture that you can't be critical and love something at the same time," Dr Carroll said.
She said Swifties have been known to attack other Swifties if they say anything negative about her, calling them "not real Swifties" or saying they don't deserve concert tickets.
Swift herself told Lowe she welcomed all the feedback.
"I have a lot of respect for people's subjective opinions on art. I'm not the art police. Everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want," she said.
Too big to fail?
Both experts agree based on her impact on the market, her touring and the media frenzy around her, Swift was operating at a much higher fame level than her mainstream music counterparts.
"Everybody, everywhere in the world feels like they're talking about [her album] because of who she is," Dr Carroll said.
She said it would take a massive public scandal that could not be denied or defended to see the fan base turn.
But Mr Kelly said all of the most popular artists historically, such as Madonna or The Rolling Stones, have eventually peaked.
"Artists have these moments where they're at their peak in terms of sales, it doesn't mean they're at their creative peak, but they're at their selling peak, and then it will dissipate because something new will come along," he said.
"The fact that Taylor's maintained a career in art for as long as she has is actually quite extraordinary.
"Maybe she can keep it going for another two or three albums, but I'll find it extraordinary if it never tails off because there's a law of gravity and it applies to everyone."
