Taylor Swift ’s Folklore Surpasses Sales Of Over 2 Million Worldwide And Over Half A Billion Streams On Audio And Video In Its Debut Week
Seven days ago, Taylor Swift surprised fans with the unexpected release of her critically-acclaimed 5 star album, folklore. Since its release, folklore has cemented itself as the top selling album of 2020.
folklore stands out as the #1 album in the world with global sales over 2 million worldwide and over half a billion total streams on audio and video in just one week. It has reached #1 on iTunes in more than 85 countries. The album marks the biggest UK debut for a female artist in 2020 and becomes her most streamed album in it’s first week in the UK.
The stunning lead single from the album, “cardigan,” debuted #1 on the Global Spotify chart, claiming the most daily Spotify streams in 2020. It also reaches #1 on iTunes song chart and was the most added song at Top 40 and Hot AC radio airplay charts nationwide. The song was also added straight to the A list on BBC Radio 1 in the UK.
Taylor Swift is the only female artist to have seven albums each sell at least 500,000 copies in a single week (Fearless, Speak Now, RED, 1989, reputation, Lover and folklore). She is the first and only female artist in the 21st century to score five #1 studio albums in the UK. folklore marks the biggest first week album streams by a female artist in the UK in 2020 and biggest first week album streams of Taylor Swift’s career in the UK.
These latest achievements follow a series of records set by folklore. Last week, it shattered the global record for first day album streams on Spotify by a female artist with 80.6 million streams and delivered the most-streamed pop album on Apple Music in 24 hours with 35.47M streams. Additionally, folklore set the U.S. and Worldwide Amazon Music Indie/Alternative Streaming Record.
folklore is the ten-time GRAMMY® Award-winning, record-breaking superstar’s eighth album. In addition to all the incredible success of folklore this week, Taylor received five 2020 MTV Video Music Award nominations. “The Man” received nominations in top categories including “Video Of The Year” and “Best Direction” – which marks Taylor’s first award nomination in a directing role. Taylor also
received nominations in categories including “Best Pop,” “Best Art Direction,” and “Video For Good.”
Additional stats on the release of folklore below:
USA
- #1 Billboard 200 debut with over 846,000 albums first week
- #1 Billboard Alternative Album
- Biggest first week album of 2020 and since Lover in 2019
- Biggest female album streaming debut of 2020 with over 300M audio+video streams
- Biggest first week album streams of Taylor’s career
- Taylor’s 6th consecutive album with over 800,000 copies in the first week
- Only artist in history with 7 albums to sell at least 500,000 copies in a single week
- Debuted Top 16 songs on Spotify US Daily Top 200 chart
- “cardigan” #1 iTunes Song
- “cardigan” #1 Spotify Top 200 Song
- “cardigan” #1 YouTube Trending Video
GLOBAL
- 2M album equivalents sold globally first week
- Over half a billion audio + video streams first week
- 1.3M album equivalents sold globally first day
- 740K albums sold in China, biggest first week since Lover
- Taylor holds the Top 2 album debuts by a Western artist in China
- #1 iTunes Album in 85+ countries
- Biggest female album debut of 2020 in the UK
- Biggest female album streaming debut of 2020 in the UK
- Biggest first week album streams of Taylor’s career in the UK
- First and only artist in 21st century to score five #1 studio albums in the UK
- Set record for Spotify first day female album global streams (80.6M)
- Set record for Apple Music 24 hour Pop album streams (35.47M)
- Set record for Amazon Music Indie Alternative album first day US and Global streams
- Debuted Top 5 songs on Spotify Global Daily Top 200 chart
- “cardigan” debuted #1 Spotify Global Top 200 chart
- “cardigan” had the most Spotify Global Daily Streams of 2020 (7.74M)
- “cardigan” #1 Apple Music Top 100: Global Songs chart
- “cardigan” added to BBC Radio 1 A-List (UK)
- “exile” feat. Bon Iver Triple J Radio airplay (Australia)
- folklore debuted at #1 on the ARIA Albums Chart claiming the highest Week 1 album consumption of 2020
- folklore is Taylor Swift’s 6th #1 ARIA Album
- folkloreofficially claims the biggest selling week 1 release in Ireland of 2020
- Taylor Swift becomes the only female solo artist with the most Official Irish Albums Chart Number 1s this millennium
Taylor Swift’s Folklore flies in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, capturing the biggest week for any album since Swift’s last release, 2019’s Lover.
Folkore was released with little advance notice on July 24 and earns Swift her seventh No. 1 album.
Folklore starts with 846,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 30, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. That marks the largest week registered for any album since Swift’s own Lover, which debuted at No. 1 on the Sept. 7, 2019-dated chart with 867,000 units.
Further, in the last four years, the three biggest weeks for any album have been racked up by Swift. Dating back to July of 2016, the three largest frames for any album are:
Swift’s Reputation (1.24 million units, Dec. 2, 2017-dated chart), Lover (867,000) and Folklore (846,000).
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