Say what? Swift's 'Speak Now' is a million-seller

How big was Taylor Swift's opening week?

Well, not only did Swift sell a stunning 1.05 million copies of her "Speak Now" album to land at No. 1, the country star sashayed into an elite group of only 10 artists who have gone platinum in one week since SoundScan started keeping track.

Swift's "Speak Now" opening is the biggest since 50 Cent's "The Massacre," which sold 1.14 million copies in its debut week in 2005. But what makes Swift's accomplishment even more surprising is that it comes in the midst of the music industry's drastic decline - one so severe that when Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" sold 1.01 million copies its opening week in 2008, many expected that the feat would never be repeated.

'N Sync holds the record for the biggest sales week in the SoundScan era when it sold 2.42 million copies of "No Strings Attached" in 2000. The Justin Timberlake-led boy band, whose "Celebrity" also opened with 1.88 million sales in 2001, and its rivals the Backstreet Boys - whose "Millennium" sold 1.13 million in 1999 and "Black & Blue" sold 1.59 million in 2000 - are the only artists to have million-plus opening weeks twice.

The only other artists topping the million mark in their opening week: Garth Brooks ("Double Live," 1998), Eminem ("The Marshall Mathers LP," 2000), Britney Spears ("Oops . . . I Did It Again," 2000), Limp Bizkit ("Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water," 2000), Usher ("Confessions," 2004) and Norah Jones ("Feels Like Home," 2004).