Taylor Swift has done it again, this time with what may be the biggest opening week of her career. Billboard estimates that Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, earned approximately $135 million globally in its first seven days. And some insiders say even that figure might be on the conservative side.
According to Luminate, the album debuted with a record-breaking 4.002 million equivalent album units in the U.S., the first album to cross 4 million in the modern streaming era. That accounted for over 50% of all current albums sold in the country that week.
The album generated 1.4 billion global streams in week one, powered by a highly orchestrated rollout that included 38 different variants, vinyl in multiple colors, CDs with acoustic bonus tracks, posters, signed photos, exclusive editions for Target and Swift’s webstore, and deluxe box sets bundled with hoodies and cardigans priced up to $70.
Swift’s direct-to-consumer empire drove the bulk of sales. More than 70% of all album consumption units came from non-traditional channels like Amazon, Urban Outfitters, Christian stores and most importantly, Taylor’s own webstore, which claimed over 65% of the total. These sales came with retail pricing, not wholesale meaning higher margins and more money in Swift’s pocket. For example, her webstore sold vinyl copies for $29.99 versus a $23.49 wholesale price.
Here’s the U.S. sales breakdown in week one:
- 1.76 million CDs
- 1.334 million vinyl albums
- 358,000 digital downloads
- 26,000 cassette albums
- 523,000 stream-equivalent albums, driven by nearly 682 million on-demand U.S. streams
The album also performed better than average in streaming revenue. Swift’s 1,306 streams per SEA (streaming equivalent album) suggest that most fans accessed her music via paid streaming platforms, delivering better revenue than ad-supported models.
Billboard estimates that about $80 million of the $135 million came from the U.S. alone, with international sales and streams pushing it into nine-figure territory. All of this happened while Swift still owns her masters, meaning she takes home a significantly larger slice than most major-label artists up to 70%+ of physical sales and 85–90% of digital revenue, after distribution and marketing fees.
And that doesn’t even include publishing revenue or the 30+ pieces of Showgirl-themed merchandise, which likely pulled in millions more.
Despite the massive debut, Swift’s total U.S. album consumption in 2025 still trails her historic numbers from the past two years. By mid-October, her catalog had reached 11.23 million units for the year behind 2023’s 12.3 million and 2024’s 15 million by the same time. For comparison, her 2023–2024 combined U.S. album consumption reached 37.4 million, dwarfing Drake’s 16 million. Globally, Swift pulled in 90.3 billion streams over that two-year stretch compared to Drake’s 36.7 billion.
Billboard says her catalog averaged around $350 million per year during that peak. In 2025 so far, including Showgirl, it’s brought in an estimated $265 million.
Bottom line? Taylor Swift isn’t just breaking records; she’s redefining the economics of modern music, owning her masters, her merchandise, and her fan relationships. With The Life of a Showgirl, she’s once again proven that when it comes to moving music and making money, she’s in a league of her own.
