Taylor Swift first artist to sell 1M albums in 2014

LOS ANGELES — Taylor Swift’s new album “1989” reaped history-making first-week sales of 1.287 million, according to a bulletin released by Nielsen SoundScan on Tuesday evening.

The 24-year-old country vocalist’s first full-fledged pop album, released Oct. 27 by Big Machine Records, racked up the biggest sales week for an album since rapper Eminem’s “The Eminem Show” shifted 1.322 million in the summer of 2002.

Swift became the only artist in history to have three separate albums sell more than a 1 million units in single week. Her “Red” sold 1.208 million in 2012, while “Speak Now” moved 1.047 million in 2010.

Swift’s sales are good news for a beleaguered music industry, as “1989” is the only 2014 album release to sell more than 1 million copies so far this year.

SoundScan will release comprehensive sales figures for the week ending Nov. 2 on Wednesday.