A History of Albums That Went Platinum in One Week

Given the decline in album sales over the past decade or so, it's not often that you see an album reach platinum status in its opening week or in a week's time at all. These days, it typically takes even the biggest project at least two to three weeks, if not much longer, as the playing field has grown and digital sales are still trying to pick up where physical sales left off.

There was, however, a time when album sales prospered. By that, we mean a three-year-long streak when nine (!) albums sold one million or more copies in their first week or in a week's time shortly after their release. You can thank the boy band movement for that, along with a certain rapper from Detroit. After that, this phenomenon more or less disintegrated, though certain pop artists and rappers continued to impress with their numbers.

It's been more than a year since the last album reached this milestone in a mere seven days, and it's difficult to speculate whose release could be next. Will Taylor Swift end the drought with her new album, Red? We'll see. For now, you can click below to start the list of albums that went platinum in one week.

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Release date: November 17, 1992

Copies sold: 1,061,000 week of January 9, 1993

Release date: November 25, 1998

Copies sold: 1,085,000 week of December 5, 1998

Release date: May 18, 1999

First-week copies sold: 1,134,000

Release date: March 21, 2000

First-week copies sold: 2,416,000

Release date: May 16, 2000

First-week copies sold: 1,319,000

Release date: May 23, 2000

First-week copies sold: 1,760,000

Release date: October 17, 2000

First-week copies sold: 1,055,000

Release date: November 21, 2000

Copies sold: 1,591,000

Release date: November 13, 2000

Copies sold: 1,258,667 week of January 6, 2001

Release date: July 24, 2001

First-week copies sold: 1,879,955

Release date: May 28, 2002

Copies sold: 1,322,000 week of June 15, 2002

Release date: February 10, 2004

First-week copies sold: 1,022,000

Release date: March 24, 2004

First-week copies sold: 1,096,000

Release date: March 3, 2005

First-week copies sold: 1,141,000

Release date: June 10, 2008

First-week copies sold: 1,006,000

Release date: October 25, 2010

First-week copies sold: 1,047,000

Release date: May 23, 2011

First-week copies sold: 1,108,000