Taylor Swift, the young singer who spins yarns of breakups with male celebrities into genre-jumping hits, may well set a record this week.
Her new album, "Red," is projected to sell over 1 million units in its first week. If it does, Swift will be the first female performer in the Nielson Soundscan era (which began in 1991) to have done that twice. According to Billboard, she has already sold over 500,000 copies since the disc was released in iTunes on Monday. Swift's last album, "Speak Now," also topped the million mark in its first week.
The only other singers or groups to have two albums that debuted to a million-plus week are The Backstreet Boys, NSync and Eminem.
Recent mega-performers have included Lady Gaga, whose "Born This Way" easily cleared a million in sales in its first week and Lil' Wayne, who found a sweet spot with "Tha Carter IV," which fell just shy of that hurdle. Just a month ago, Mumford & Sons sold an impressive 600,000 units of "Babel."
Swift, who is 22 years old, has refused to confirm the subject of this round of break up songs, but a number of sources have pointed to her recent relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal as matching up with certain details mentioned in her lyrics. Musically, the singer branched out on "Red," working with the likes of mega-producer Max Martin to drive harder into pop on tracks like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."
Surprised? So is she:
