
What does it take to push an album or song to the top of the charts? Ask Taylor
Swift, who spent the last month tirelessly promoting her debut pop album, 1989,
and pushing its lead single "Shake It Off" into the national pop-culture
conversation.
Hard work pays off. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and has shattered
records left and right, and it's all but guaranteed that 1989 will debut at the
top of the Billboard 200 when it's released on Oct. 27. To secure those numbers,
Swift rolled out an impressive, borderline-exhaustive album campaign that
included Instagram teasers, appearances on late night talk shows, skywriting
planes, and a Yahoo! live stream event on the top of the Empire State Building
on Aug. 18. The album was made available for pre-order on her website
immediately following the live stream, but the site crashed within minutes.
In the two weeks since, she has performed at the VMA's, shared music video
outtake videos via YouTube (surely an effort to keep fans interested), and
announced that she'll join The Voice as a mentor this fall. There are rumors
circulating that she may come on as a judge, but we'll let you know when that's
confirmed.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6243995/taylor-swift-promotion-debut-1989-week