Did Taylor Swift have the biggest album of 2025? What we know

Taylor Swift performing in Sao Paulo, Brazil during the Eras Tour.

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Alyce Collins

By Alyce Collins

Senior Reporter

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If Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl was at the top of your Spotify Wrapped this year, then you definitely weren’t the only one. The album, released on October 3, broke numerous records and sold over 4 million units in the U.S. in its opening week.

Swifties certainly rejoiced over the singer’s latest project and helped it top the charts (and stay there for many weeks). So, does that mean that the billionaire pop singer had the biggest album of 2025?

Well, it depends on who you ask.

What Does the Streaming Data Show?

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says The Life of a Showgirl was the highest-certified album of 2025, surpassing 5 million units. Not only did Swift end the year with the highest certification level, but the RIAA also notes that, for the second year running, she achieved the top album, too.

After breaking streaming records, it may come as no surprise that Swift’s 12th studio album is still sitting at the top of the Billboard 200. Despite 10 weeks on the charts, The Life of a Showgirl still holds a commanding presence in top spot, above Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem in second place.

Indeed, before it was even released, The Life of a Showgirl became the first album to surpass 5 million pre-saves on Spotify. (Who held the record before that you might wonder? That was also Swift, for her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department.)

The album has undoubtedly been a commercial success—selling over 3.47 million copies in pure album sales in the opening week, according to Billboard. That significantly became the single largest sales week for an album since 1991. Not to mention, Swift occupied every spot in the top 10 songs charts with tracks from the album.

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Swift has also been crowned the No. 1 artist in the U.S. on Spotify this year (second globally behind Bad Bunny). While The Life of a Showgirl occupies eighth place in Spotify’s top 10 albums in the U.S, none of its songs (or any other Swift songs for that matter) are in the top 10.

Outside the U.S, the data isn’t quite so glistening. Swift didn’t crack into the top 10 global songs or album releases of 2025.

What Do the Critics Say?

Record sales have certainly been booming, but The Life of a Showgirl wasn’t exactly met with widespread critical acclaim. The reviews were mixed as it became a New York Times Critic's pick, gained a five-star review from Rolling Stone, and was referred to as "magical" by NME—but not everyone agreed.

The Guardian gave it just two stars and the BBC cited certain lyrics as "silly and unexpected.”

In a roundup of the year’s 30 best pop releases, Pitchfork said that Swift’s album was "so bad we won’t even talk about it." Just days after the album dropped, one brand strategist previously told Newsweek that it was already "flopping."

Comparatively, Rolling Stone has ranked it in 15th on the top 100 albums of the year. Individual songs from the album have also been incredibly successful. Variety named "Ruin the Friendship" as one of the best tracks of the 2025, while "The Fate of Ophelia" still sits in 14th place on Apple Music’s top 100. At the time of writing, certified bop "Opalite" has generated over 409,388,659 streams on Spotify.

As any showgirl knows, you can’t win them all.

In terms of commercial success, The Life of a Showgirl has certainly broken new ground. But if you ask the critics, you might get a different answer for the biggest album of 2025.

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What Does the Streaming Data Show?

What Do the Critics Say?