Swift Currents

SWIFT CURRENT: The new Taylor Swift album, Speak Now, hit retail today in order to get a full seven-day count for its chart debut next Tuesday. Insiders are saying that Universal Music Group Distribution shipped around 2 million copies of the Big Machine/ Universal Republic release, which flies in the face of the current pessimistic climate at retail. Industry pundits are pointing to disappointing first-week sales by the likes of Katy Perry for retailers’ conservative attitude towards ordering product, thus deflating shipment totals across the board. (10/25p)