Taylor Swift’s new single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is selling much faster than initially thought. Industry sources now suggest the track — released late on Monday, Aug. 13 — will probably move easily move more than 500,000 downloads by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, Aug. 19. It even has a pretty decent shot of surpassing the 600,000 mark.
Yesterday, forecasters were suggesting it would launch with 400,000 to 500,000. But, once sources saw how well it was already selling, it blew all projections out of the water.
If it surpasses 448,000, it will earn the largest debut for a digital song by a woman in history. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” holds the current feat among female acts, when it launched at No. 1 on Billboard’s Digital Songs chart with 448,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Meanwhile, on today’s new Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song makes a, well, Swift start, debuting at No. 72 after less than two days in release. The full Hot 100 chart will refresh on Billboard.biz on Thursday, Aug. 16.
It arrives after being released to digital retailers and radio only late Monday (Aug. 13), with its first two days of airplay accounting for a No. 25 start on Radio Songs (40 million audience impressions, according to Nielsen BDS). As previously reported, that’s the best bow for a new song by a country act in the Radio Songs chart’s 21-year history.
The song should make a dramatic jump towards the top of next week’s Hot 100 after logging a full first week of sales and airplay. (Highlights of next week’s Hot 100 will post next Wednesday [22] on Billboard.biz.)