Taylor Swift Earns $14K From Ryan Adams’ First Week Sales

The numbers are in for the Ryan Adams remake of Taylor Swift‘s 1989 blockbuster release. Adams sold just shy of 50,000 units, pushing both albums to the iTunes Top 10 list. With the help of Downtown Music Publishing’s Joe Conyers, MusicRow has estimated Swift’s earnings from the cover album’s first week of sales.

Given an equal split between songwriters, Swift’s total first-week royalty share of Ryan Adams’ cover album sales is estimated at $27,904.

If Swift’s deal with Sony/ATV was a 50/50 split, this would give each party $13,952.

Swift’s own record sales were up 13 percent from the week prior, moving 13,297 units this week. For that figure, you can do the math. Estimations would be almost impossible as control composition likely applies to her songwriting in addition to the deluxe album track royalties, on top of her artist royalty splits with BMLG.

Interestingly enough, Swift will earn streaming revenue from Adams’ albums, which is available on ad-based services. Swift removed her own last year. Recent qualms with those payouts may not likely have any significant impact on earnings.

Let’s just say the PR Swift has received from the Adams cover likely exceeds first week royalties, which may barely cover the cost of jet fuel to her next tour stop. Read about Swift’s Nashville homecoming on her 1989 Tour here.

Taylor Swift and Mick Jagger. Photo: Getty Images