Swift goes number one with Red

Taylor Swift's new album Red has topped charts worldwide in its first week of release.

The 22-year-old Grammy-winner's fourth studio album hit shelves on October 22.

The record has had one of the best US debuts in history, selling over 1.2 million copies last week, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It marks the highest single-week sales in a decade. The last artist to surpass that mark was Eminem, whose 2002 album The Eminem Show clocked up over 1.3 million sales. Lady Gaga fell just shy of that with her 2011 Born This Way, selling over 1.1 million copies in its first week.

Taylor also scored her first number one on the UK album charts, with sales adding up to 61,779.

Worldwide, Red set a single-week sales record at iTunes, selling 464,000 copies.

The album has reached number one in 42 countries via the online music library, including: the UK, US, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand and Venezuela.

Red has also sold over 4.5 million individual downloads to date.