Taylor Swift goes No. 1 with million-plus 'Red' sales

• Swift becomes the first woman to have two albums sell more than a million copies in a week
• 'Red' is already the best-selling album in the history of retailer Target
• Swift has sold more than 17 million albums since releasing her debut in 2006

Her album may be Red, but Taylor Swift is already in the black.

The 22-year-old singer's fourth studio album, released Oct. 22, had one of the best debuts in history, selling 1.208 million copies last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

That's the highest single-week sales total in a decade, since Eminem's The Eminem Show rang up 1.322 million in 2002.

Red set a single-week sales record at iTunes, where it sold 464,000 copies. At Target, which offered a version of Red that included a bonus CD containing six additional tracks, Swift sold more than 400,000 units -- the highest total for any album in the retailer's history.

Additionally, Red has sold more than 4.5 million individual downloads, led by 2.4 million-plus copies of single We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

Swift's 2010 Speak Now album sold 1.047 million in its first week and has gone on to move a total of 4.2 million units. Swift has sold more than 17 million albums since releasing her self-titled debut in 2006.

Since SoundScan began tabulating sales in 1991, Red is the 18th album to reach the seven-figure mark in a single week, and Swift becomes the only female act to accomplish the feat twice. Eminem, 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys also have twice had million-selling weeks.

The most recent album to top a million during a one-week frame was Lady Gaga's Born This Way in 2011, which sold 1.108 million copies, aided by a 99-cent sale at Amazon.

Jon Freeman, managing editor at trade publication MusicRow, calls Swift's ability to drive that level of sales for two albums "a testament to the hard work that she has put in as a creative person and to the innovation and strategy of the team behind her."

Swift has more than savvy marketing behind her. She has also built a fan base that identifies with her so intensely that they're driven to buy new music as soon as it becomes available.

"She's kind of like the voice of her generation," says Yahoo Music writer Chris Willman. "Who else would you use that for, if not her? No one else is as popular and as eloquent right now as she is."

Swift will co-host The Grammy Nominations Concert Live!! -- Countdown to Music's Biggest Night, which will air Dec. 5 from Nashville (CBS, 10 p.m. ET/tape delay PT). She'll launch a 58-date, 45-city stadium and arena tour on March 13 in Omaha.