Taylor Swift New Album '1989' Review: New Songs Draw Rave Reviews From Critics and Fans

Taylor Swift's new album "1989" has been garnering outstanding reviews since its release on Monday, Oct. 27.

Swift's last album "Red" sold over 1.2 million copies in its first week, and "1989" could also see the same sales figures even though it is considered to be "pop" influenced.

Jem Aswad, writing for Billboard, described the album as "Swift's best work, a sophisticated pop tour de force."

With Swift's first venture into pop music already earning rave reviews, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter and actress is expected to gain further fame in "1989."

This year has been bleak for the music industry which has been witnessing a dip in sales across the board. No artist has managed to release a platinum album this year. If Swift's album goes platinum, it could be the silver lining in a year that was full of gloomy sales figures, as illegal downloads and YouTube videos continue to eat into profits.

The first single in the album "Shake It Off" hit stores on Aug. 18. Since then Swift has been on a tour to promote the album. The single went on to take the number one spot on the Billboard top 100. It signaled that Swift could make the move from country singer to pop star with aplomb.

Since the release of "Shake It Off," Swift has hosted a number of private listening sessions for fans in several of her homes. A recent one was held in her apartment in Tribeca, where fans got to listen to tracks from the album and indulged in sushi and pizza bites.

The release of "1989" also saw various tracks leaked on Friday, Oct. 24. The leaked tracks made their way onto music sharing sites such as YouTube. Some of the tracks were subsequently taken down. USA Today notes that Swift's previous album Red was also leaked online but that didn't affect its sales.