Taylor Swift performs onstage at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. 20, 2022.

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Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

Taylor Swift performs onstage at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. 20, 2022.

Terry Wyatt/Getty Images

Taylor Swift, the millennial pop goddess whose latest album is now the first to surpass one billion Spotify streams in a single week, has smashed her own record when it comes to the sales of her physical albums as well.

Her Tortured Poets Department, released on April 19, took only five days to make history on Spotify. And in a typical overachiever move, Swift not only also sold the most vinyl albums ever in a week, but took only three days to do so. And the record she broke was her own.

Tortured Poets Department has sold more than 700,000 physical albums so far. Last year, about a million vinyl records were sold in the US, in total. Nearly 10 percent of them were Taylor Swift’s.

Swift closed 2023 with five of the year’s top 10 best-selling vinyl records, leading with 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights. Each of them sold more than 500,000 physical copies.

These figures, it should be noted, have been hugely assisted by two factors. One is that LP sales were not rigorously tracked until the early 1990s by Soundscan. Before then, it’s possible that other artists may have sold more than 700,000 physical albums in a week, but there’s just no data to prove it.

The other factor is that Swift’s albums are released in multiple editions. Many hardcore Swifties make a point of collecting them all. So, for example, a clear vinyl version of Tortured Poets Department with a bonus track is available only at Target. Other versions are only available through Swift’s website.

Sales of all of them count towards Tortured Poets‘ total.

Avila isn’t the only one who built a community from LAF.

Frankie Osorio, 24, Oscar Alba, 31, and Sabrina Sandoval, 29, joined LAF in search of new friends. Last spring, after meeting each other individually at various LAF events, the three connected on Discord. Osorio said they bonded over their shared music taste and cynical, sarcastic humor.

By summer, their friendship had left the chat. The trio attended EDM concerts together and spent nights bar-hopping across the city.

At events, people would stop Osorio and Alba to ask if they’re brothers. It happened often enough that the friends decided to play along. Now all three of them tell people they’re siblings.

“At this point we’ve even tried coming up with a last name,” Sandoval said. “They’re my brothers. It really feels like they’re my brothers. “

Over the past few months, the trio has attended raves together, supported one another through breakups and celebrated New Year’s on a ski trip in Utah. Last weekend, Alba surprised Osorio and Sandoval with floor tickets to see Excision, a Canadian DJ and EDM producer, in concert. Next up on their calendar is a Tiësto and Illenium show for Sandoval’s birthday in July.

Music also connected self-proclaimed best friends Lili Jacob, 27, Eliana Mata, 34, and Erika Bernal, 33. Their love for musician Peso Pluma sealed their bond. And when they got to talking, they realized they had a lot more in common than that. Each of them was going through a life transition and had joined LAF looking to put themselves out there and form new friendships.

Like Osorio, Alba and Sandoval, the three women met separately on Discord and at various events before Bernal formed a group chat to unite their individual friendships. Now, Jacob and Bernal are roommates and Mata lives just five minutes away.

“People will say, ‘If you invite one, the other two will come.’ That is how tight-knit we are,” Jacob said. “I’ve heard people say, ‘They’re a package deal.’ I mean, you’re not wrong.”

Since becoming close friends, the three do everything together — Halloween costumes, college traditions, eating fistfuls of grapes on New Year’s for good luck. They’ve made some of their core memories in the mosh pits of emo concerts across the city. Sprained ankles haven’t deterred them yet.

“I cannot imagine going through big things in life without having them,” Jacob said. “I am so grateful to have them as my closest friends.”

Sometimes, Jacob, Mata and Bernal remember that they met through meetups inspired by a single TikTok and laugh.

“I was just thinking of a comment Lili made after we moved in. We’d settled in a bit and then one day she was like, ‘Do you ever just trip out how we just met online and then moved in together?’” Bernal said.

“At this point we’ve even tried coming up with a last name,” Sabrina Sandoval said. “They’re my brothers. It really feels like they’re my brothers.“

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)