Taylor Swift’s ‘Evermore’ sets a modern-era record for vinyl sales

Taylor Swift is the new ruler of the vinyl kingdom.

After its release on vinyl last week, the pop megastar’s 2020 album “Evermore” has set a new modern-era vinyl sales record, according to sales tracker MRC Data. The album racked up 40,000 sales its first three days of release, Billboard reports, setting a new benchmark for one-week vinyl sales. In so doing, Swift tops the previous record holder, Jack White’s “Lazaretto,” which sold 40,000 copies its first week back in 2014.

Impressively, “Evermore” set the record in just three days of release, and those sales will likely swell higher by the end of the sales frame.

“Evermore” did have the benefit of several months of preorders. The album went for sale on preorder on vinyl in December, when it was surprise-released and became Swift’s second album of 2020, following July’s Grammy-winnning “Folklore.” Swift announced “Evermore’s” vinyl arrival last week.

Previous to White’s record, the biggest first-week vinyl sales record belonged to Pearl Jam, whose “Vitalogy” sold 34,000 copies its first week in 1994. MRC Data, formerly SoundScan, began tracking sales in 1991.

White’s “Lazaretto” has more bells and whistles than “Evermore.” The album came complete with all sorts of innovative trickery, from floating holograms to hidden songs to a feature called a “locked groove,” where the album plays on an endless loop — or evermore, as it were.