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Just double checked the article so yeah I realized he put the China stats under "Other releases"
Taylor's in the top 10 digital selling albums, you state here. In the overall list, only three artists seem to outsell her digitally: Rihanna, Eminem and Beyonce. Are there others who have not been studied who might beat her in this? I can't think of any right now.
Thank you for the comprehensive answer MJD. I remember a few years ago it seems very clear that Rihanna is the leader from her era, but I always felt like Taylor is sort of like a dark horse that will emerge as the top seller at the end. I think Rihanna probably overworked during her first 6-7 years because she released ridiculous amount of album and probably she needed a break from it.
1989 is gaining more right now, because Taylor is extremely active. Before the release of folklore, X was gaining more. Ed is releasing soon (he teased June 25th), so X should go back to outstreaming. But with 1989 (Taylor's Version) also coming, it will be a close battle.
Hi Clockingbell!
I take it that you refer to sales of digital tracks? If yes, indeed when I first completed Taylor's article, I didn't knew where she would stand, so that remained this way. If I have to think about it, she most likely stands at the 4th position as you suggest. Maybe Kanye West has something to say about it? He sold a lot of mastertones too, but that sounds like a big number for him still.
Taylor swift didn’t removed her catalogue from Spotify to boost album sales but she did it cause spotify wasn’t paying small artists fairly. It was a heroic and selfless move, please don’t make it look like she did it for herself, cause she would have sold anyways. She did it cause she always stands for artist’s rights.
Hi Nishant!
This was the storytelling presented, we don't have to be naive and believe it. She said she wouldn't return to Spotify until they offer a premium-only tier. They never did it, in fact they never changed their business model, so why has she returned? Simply because while for her it was still more profitable to sell albums than amass streams considering her convertion rate in 2014, it wasn't the case anymore in 2017. Same for the Beatles. Same for Adele. They all retained streams until their pure sales were making less than they would with streams added.
She is now into another similar process, portraying Braun like evil just because he did something everyone is free to do, purchasing a catalog of songs, in order to sell "her" versions, simply because she earns more by owning the masters despite paying Braun the rights to do the covers. No matter which version of Love Story you stream, both Taylor and Scooter earn money, but the former gets a larger % for "her" versions. Both cases, with Spotify and with Braun, are simple profit optimization.
By the way, it's not something negative, artists of this stature are real companies, they hire hundreds of people. It's the job of a company to maximize revenue to sustain its ecosystem. She managed to get strong enough to push some walls that enable her to get more money for her company, she would be silly not to do so.
Hi MJD
Sorry to disturb you, but scooter doesn’t earn from the re-recording as he doesn’t own the masters to them. He also sold the masters to Taylor’s first 6 albums to shamrock but yes previously he did earn partially from them whilst Taylor also earned, as she’s the artist and owns publishing.
You are right Fanofpop! I wasn't thinking of the publishing rights actually but instead the license for covers. Anyone can cover anyone live, but to record a cover you need to pay for it. I'm not aware of her previous contract so not sure if Taylor keeps the whole of it (as the author) or not.
How many sales away Taylor Swift is from becoming the best selling artist in the US? I heard she only needs 110M to surpass the Beatles
I want to confirm if this is indeed true. And if it is, is it achievable?
I think it is way more than 110M
This information is from a stan account based on "dude trust me"
How will it be achievable if after her prime years she has not reached 100M?
Thats why I need MJD or Marvin to answer this. I also want to know who the best selling artists this century
Just look at the ranks. She will never be the best selling artist ever considering her album sales have been on the decline lately. I dont think she has much time left to be at the top if follows the normal pop star pattern. And Eminem for sure sold more than her this century.
Ultimately no one knows what the future holds, so you can never say it's impossible but i'd say it's near on impossible and if I was a betting man, I certainly would not be putting money on it happening.
You also have to remember that, The Beatles sales/streams are not static, they are still selling and streaming vast quantities year in, year out. So, for all her fantastic sales in the US, she is not actually gaining that much on them, as was evidenced by those Nielsen figures for the century so far, that showed since 2000, in the US, she has shifted 57m and The Beatles 50m.
Thank you, Martin. Chartmaster is the one that I trust the most when it comes to discussing sales record and impact.
Martin, I have one other question for you. Do you think bts will surpass Beatles soon?
