Red is the fourth studio album by American singer Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012 through Big Machine Records, as the follow-up to her commercially successful 2010 album Speak Now. It was announced through Swift's live webchat on August 13, 2012, in which she revealed the album title and album cover, and answered fan questions. Four promotional singles were released in the month leading up to the album release, three of which debuted inside the top ten of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The album features collaborations with new producers and guest artists such as Gary Lightbody and Ed Sheeran, and sees Swift experimenting with new musical genres.
The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", was a worldwide commercial success, topping the iTunes charts all over the world and selling 623,000 copies in the first week, becoming Swift's first ever Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper after vaulting from 72 to number one and staying atop for three weeks. The second single, "Begin Again", was released on October 1. "I Knew You Were Trouble" was released as the third official single (promoted, like "Begin Again", from promotional single status) on November 27, 2012, becoming one of Swift's highest charting singles in both the UK and the US. "22" will be released as the fourth single from the album in March 2013.
Red has also spawned three other promotional singles, all of which reached top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Red has been mostly acclaimed by music critics, who praised Swift's versatility as a musician and enjoyed her experiments with new music genres. Red sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, the second-highest debut for a female artist, behind Oops!... I Did It Again by Britney Spears. Red is also Swift's first chart-topper in the U.K., and also topped the album charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The album sold 1.89 million copies in its first three weeks, surpassing One Direction's Up All Night as the second biggest-selling album of the year in the U.S.