How many copies of Taylor Swift's 1989 were sold in 2014? Singer's album beat Disney's Frozen

Taylor Swift's 1989 album defeated Walt Disney Records' Frozen to become the highest-selling album of 2014 in the very last week of the year. Moreover, the album accomplished this feat in just nine months of being on sale.

According to Nielsen Music, Taylor Swift's 1989 album ended 2014 with 3.66 million copies of the album sold. Disney's Frozen topped the charts for every other week except for the last one and came in second with 3.53 million copies sold in 2014.

1989 wasn't the first time Taylor Swift ended the year with the highest sales. In fact, her second album, Fearless, also ended 2009 with 3.22 million units sold and was declared the highest-selling album of the year.

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Taylor Swift's 1989 broke Frozen's sales record in the very last week of 2014

UK Vinyl Sales Highest Level For Thirty Years (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)

Taylor Swift's fifth studio album, 1989, was released on October 27, 2014, by Big Machine Records and managed to gallop to the top of the sales chart within just nine weeks of going on sale. The album also marked Taylor Swift's transition from a country star to a pop icon, as it was the first official pop album by her.

Disney's Frozen soundtrack was released on November 25, 2013, and comprised eight songs and 22 score pieces composed by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez, and Christophe Beck.

Frozen topped the sales charts for all weeks of 2014 except the last one (counted until December 28). In the penultimate counting cycle (December 21), the tally stood at 3.34 million units sold for 1989 versus 3.46 for Frozen. However, experts had suggested that the last week would be crucial as the consensus was that Taylor Swift would beat Disney, which is what happened.

Frozen sold a total of 64,000 in the final week but the figure was dwarfed by 1989's 326,000 copies sold. Thus, the latter tipped the former to end the year as the album with the highest sales.

In 2014, only 31 albums crossed the 500,000 mark in sales, with just 4 albums selling over a million. The other two albums that crossed a million were Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour and Pentatonix's That's Christmas To Me.

However, such a close competition at the top of the list had never happened before 2014 (from the time Nielsen Music started tracking musical data in 1992).

The closest competition to this happened in 1994 when Disney's The Lion King soundtrack edged Ace of Base's The Sign to become the top seller of 1994 in the very last week. However, The Sign was the top seller since May 15, 1994, and not throughout the year like Frozen.

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Awards and accolades won by 1989 and Frozen

The 58th GRAMMY Awards - Press Room (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Both 1989 and Frozen made it big at that year's award ceremonies. At the 57th Grammy Awards, the album won Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and was nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.

The song Let It Go also bagged Best Song Written for Visual Media, with the award going to Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Idina Menzel.

1989 also won big at the 58th Grammy Awards the next year, winning Best Pop Vocal Album and the coveted Album of the Year.

Additionally, Taylor Swift's fifth studio album won Favorite Pop/ Rock Album at the American Music Awards and Album of the Year at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. It also won Album of the Year (Western) at the Japan Gold Disc Awards.

Finally, 1989 earned many more nominations, such as Best International Rock/Pop Album at the Echo Music Prize, Best International Album at the Los Premios 40 Principales, and International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards.