Taylor Swift's fourth studio album Red sold 1.2 million copies in its first week, the biggest debut sales since Eminem's 2002 record The Eminem Show, which sold 1.32 million copies. The current all-time debut-week sales record is still held by N-Sync, who set the mark in 2000 by shifting 2.4 million copies of No Strings Attached.

Nevertheless, Swift's feat is nothing to be scoffed at, especially in the current climate. As well as being her second straight album to top 1 million sales, Red's success means Taylor Swift is the only female artist to have successive albums sell 1 million since SoundScan started keeping track of things in 1991. Tweeting today, Swift told followers, "They just told me Red sold 1.2 million albums first week. How is this real life?! You are UNREAL. I love you so much. Thanks a million ;)" The country-turned-pop star is now behind only Britney Spears in terms of the biggest album debuts by a female artist. Spears' Oops! I Did It Again sold 1.32 million units in one week in 2000 (co-incidentally when she was dating N-Sync's Timberlake).

The release of Taylor Swift's Red comes after a clever marketing campaign that has seen fans of the country star able to snap up customized sneakers featuring her image. You could even get a pizza from Papa John's that featured Swift's image on the box.

Watch the video for Swift's 'We Are Never Getting Back Together' below