Our girl Taylor Swift just made history as the first artist to debut at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart in the same week.
Following the surprise release of her eighth studio album “Folklore” on July 24 (which shook us to the core), “Cardigan” made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 while the album “Folklore” topped the Billboard Hot 200 within the first week of its release.
This is the first time that an artist debuted three songs that made it to the top 6 of the Hot 100 at the same time—“the 1” and “Exile (ft. Bon Iver)” at the fourth and sixth spots respectively.
However, Swift is no stranger to the Hot 100 chart with five other singles making it to the top before:
- “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Sept. 1, 2012
- “Shake It Off,” Sept. 6, 2014
- “Blank Space,” Nov. 29, 2014
- “Bad Blood,” feat. Kendrick Lamar, June 6, 2015
- “Look What You Made Me Do,” Sept. 16, 2017
Moreover, this is Swift’s second consecutive record whose entire tracklist made it to the Hot 100 with 18 songs of her seventh studio album “Lover” making it to the Hot 100 and bagging the top spot of the Billboard 200 in Sept. 2019. (Fun fact: her album “Lover” had the biggest debut at the time, beating her own previous album “Reputation.”)
If you thought that these were pretty big achievements for an album written in quarantine, stick around because I’m not done listing all of “Folklore’s” achievements.
According to Swift’s label Universal Music Group, “Folklore” earned 846,000 album units on its first week in the U.S. and sold over 2 million worldwide making it 2020’s best-selling album to date. If you’ve been keeping up with her previous eras, you’d be happy to know that Swift also became the first artist to have seven albums each selling at least 500,000 copies within a week (Fearless, Speak Now, RED, 1989, Reputation, Lover and Folklore).
Aside from taking us Swifties by surprise, “Folklore’s” emotional lyrics and cottagecore vibe captured our hearts and definitely became a mainstay on our playlists on the first few days of it’s release. Which is why it didn’t come off as a surprise that it also became the most streamed album on multiple streaming platforms.
“Folklore” became the first album by a female artist to have the most streams on its first day on Spotify at 80.6 million and became the most streamed pop album on Apple Music in 24 hours with 35.47 million.
Swift is already taking the charts by storm at the beginning of this new era and we can bet that award shows will be coming up next.
Screengrab from the “cardigan” music video
Follow Preen on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Viber
Related Stories:
Taylor Swift is dropping a surprise album and I fully can’t breathe
Taylor Swift just donated $3,000 to pay for a fan’s rent
Taylor Swift is allegedly not allowed to play her old songs at the AMAs
Taylor Swift urges Senate to sign Equality Act in “You Need to Calm Down” MV
