AMERICAN singer-songwriter Taylor Swift may be more popular in China than the US, going by the first-week sales of her latest music.

Lover, the 29-year-old pop star’s seventh album, sold 1 million in China in its first week of release, Universal Music Group said Aug. 29. US sales are expected to reach 850,000 in the period, based on forecasts cited in Billboard magazine Aug. 28. The figures include streaming equivalents. Swift has been among the most popular Western musicians in China, where some of the biggest internet companies are betting on streaming services to lure users. Chinese social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., for example, has been negotiating to buy 10% of Universal from Vivendi SA to help it tap fast-growing Asian markets. Released on Aug. 23, Lover has become China’s most consumed international full-length album this year, Universal said. Swift’s two previous albums, 1989 and Reputation, were both certified for over 1 million copies consumed in China. Universal is still waiting to report on the US sales of Lover as of Aug. 29, a spokesman for the company said by e-mail. The album also claimed the biggest sales week for any in the US this year, according to Billboard. As of Aug. 27, it had sold about 750,000. — Bloomberg

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