Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' will be boon for independent record stores

Taylor Swift released her highly anticipated eleventh album Friday, and it is expected to be a boon for record stores.

The pop star's "The Tortured Poets Department" (TTPD) album made its official debut overnight, roughly 2½ months after she revealed her plans to release it.

Adrian Lee, purchaser for The Sound Garden in Baltimore, told FOX Business Friday the store has "had a number of people interested in purchasing" all four exclusive vinyl variants of Swift’s new album and "ended up with hundreds of pre-orders" for TTPD.

The album is also expected to help drive more sales for The Sound Garden, according to Lee.

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"She’s one of the biggest superstars in the world, and when she releases new music, it’s certainly going to contribute to increased traffic in the store," Lee said.

Her releases also come with a "halo effect" that has indie record stores like The Sound Garden getting customers "coming in to shop and buying other things while they’re there," according to Lee.

Doyle Davis, co-owner of Grimey’s New & Preloved Music in Nashville, also spoke to FOX Business about the release of "TTPD" and its expected impact.

"This is a unique situation because we’ve got this hugely anticipated Taylor Swift release, which is always a big deal every time she has one," he said. "And then tomorrow is Record Store Day, which traditionally is far and away our biggest day of the entire year."

Record Store Day takes place every year, typically on the third Saturday in April, promoting indie record stores and often involving special artist releases. 

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"We’re gonna have an amazing weekend, hands down regardless, but having the Taylor Swift release on top of it, that makes it a double whammy, if you will, of huge demand drivers to bring customers over to the store," Davis said.

Swift’s album sales are "impactful" for Grimey’s every day, her past records often appearing among the store’s top-25 bestsellers each week. But Davis attributed the store's success to its wide selection. He also told FOX Business the store ordered "hundreds" of "TTPD" copies ahead of its release in anticipation of high demand.

"Taylor Swift’s releases are usually the biggest releases of the week," said Chris Brown, vice president of finance for Bull Moose Music and the creator of Record Store Day. "We [Bull Moose] get a large sales boost whenever she releases anything."

Prior albums from Swift saw a rise in sales at Bull Moose in the lead-up to the debut of "TTPD," according to Brown.

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"This will be the very first CD or LP some of those people buy. It might even be the first time they visit a real record store," Brown said.

Davis noted Swift has turned Swifties onto vinyl records and "really shined her spotlight on independent record stores these last couple years." She served as Record Store Day’s ambassador two years ago.

In 2023, the singer recorded 2.48 million U.S. vinyl sales from her various albums, Billboard reported, citing Luminate data. In the U.S., there were reportedly 49.61 million vinyl sales overall last year.