Records Smashed: Inside Taylor Swift’s Historic Luminate Victory

On January 14, 2026, music data firm Luminate officially crowned Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl as the most popular album of 2025. Moving a massive 5.607 million equivalent album units, Swift has now secured the year-end No. 1 spot for the fourth time, following her previous victories in 2009, 2014, and 2024.

A Year of Two Titans

For the first time since Luminate began tracking units in 2014, two albums cleared the 5-million-unit milestone in a single year. While Swift took the top spot, Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem followed closely with 5.125 million units. Despite Wallen’s massive streaming lead (6.295 billion streams), Swift’s “Showgirl” maintained its lead through staggering physical sales—selling more than the rest of the Top 10 combined.

The Streaming and Radio Leaders

While Swift ruled the album charts, other artists claimed the top spots for individual songs:

Most-Streamed Song: Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” dominated with 746.2 million on-demand audio streams.
Most-Heard Radio Song: Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” ruled the airwaves with 3.054 billion audience impressions.
K-Pop Phenomenon: The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack finished at No. 4, the highest rank for a soundtrack since 2018.

Physical Media vs. Digital Decline

The 2025 report highlights a deepening divide between physical collectors and digital buyers:

Vinyl’s 19th Year of Growth: Vinyl sales rose 8.6%, accounting for half of all physical albums sold in the U.S. Swift alone sold 1.6 million vinyl copies of Showgirl, a modern-era record.
The Death of the Download: Digital track sales plummeted for the 13th consecutive year, dropping 11.4%. Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” was the top seller with only 238,000 downloads—the lowest total for a No. 1 song since 2004.

The Bottom Line

Overall U.S. music consumption increased by 4.8% in 2025, driven almost entirely by streaming (85% of all consumption). With Swift and Wallen both clearing 5 million units, 2025 stands as a historic year for “super-fan” engagement and the continued resilience of the vinyl format.