On Friday Taylor Swift’s forthcoming album 1989 found its way online courtesy of certain music sharing sites. The leak wasn't exactly what Taylor and her record company, Big Machine Records, had hoped for and much of Friday was spent trying to remove the songs from the internet.

Taylor SwiftSwift's 1989 has leaked online

It all began when the song ‘Blank Space’ hit Youtube, within hours Taylor’s record company Big Machine had made sure the track had disappeared. But soon the full album was available on music sharing site and there was really nothing Taylor or her record company could do.

New York magazine reports the leak could have stemmed from Target because the hackers managed to get their hands on not only the 13 main tracks off 1989, but the full 19 songs from the special Target edition.

But while the album’s leak might cause panic in the Swift camp, it could cause much bigger problems for the record industry as a whole who were relying on 1989 to boost floundering sales.

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2014 has seen album sales down 14 percent all year with single sales dropping by 13 percent, according to Nielsen Soundscan. One of the main reasons for the decline is the public moving on to streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube, with Nielsen Soundscan reporting that streaming jumped 42 percent by mid-2014.

A new album from Taylor Swift could just be exactly what the doctor ordered for the record industry and Rolling Stone lists ‘retail sources’ as expecting sales from 600,000 to 750,000. But will the leak put fans off buying the album? Not a chance, says Rolling Stone’s Anthony DeCurtis. ”Taylor Swift's fans are uncommonly loyal, I doubt that anyone who wanted to buy the album would be dissuaded by the leak,” he said.

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History has certainly proved that statement to be true, as back in 2012 Swift's last album, Red leaked in full and still went on to sell 1.23 million copies in its first week.

Still with streaming services steadily increasing in popularity, can Swift really ensure that 2014 doesn't go down as one of the worst years for record sales? Guess we’ll have to wait until Monday to find out.

Taylor SwiftWill 1989 shift enough copies to save the record industry?