Taylor Swift embraces streaming for her new album. Is it too late?

What's a reliable seller to do in a market where nobody's actually buying? That's the question Swift faces ahead of Friday's release of 'Lover', her seventh studio album and the first that will serve as a true test of her viability in the age of digital streaming. — AP

For more than a decade, record sales have been about as close to a sure thing as exists in the rarely settled music industry.

When the singer's most recent album, Reputation, came out in 2017, it sold more than 1.2 million copies in its first week – her fourth record in a row to go platinum essentially upon release. (That's more than any other artiste has ever scored.)