folklore is out via Republic Records
Taylor Swift‘s surprise eighth studio album, folklore, continues its record-breaking surge. This week, with over 846k equivalent album sales, Swift becomes the first female artist to debut seven albums at #1 on the Billboard 200 — breaking her tie with Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Britney Spears. Her single “cardigan” also lands at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the only artist in history to debut at #1 on both charts simultaneously.
Folklore stands out as the top-selling album of 2020 with first-week global sales already over 2 million worldwide. Swift is the only artist in history to have seven albums sell at least half a million copies in a week. This also marks Taylor’s 6th consecutive release to sell over 800,000 albums in its first week. The 16-track release has also garnered over half a billion total streams on audio and video and topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. See the music video for the lead single, “cardigan” below.
Created during quarantine, Taylor’s new album embraces an organic and rustic sound influenced by elements of soft rock, electro-folk, dream pop, and country, a sharp pivot from the high-octane, bubblegum pop of her recent work. Carefully crafted, masterfully minimalist, and wonderstruck, folklore is an effortless progression and sound for Swift. The album was produced by The Nationals’ Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, and Swift herself. Bon Iver makes a guest appearance on the melancholic duet, “exile,” which also lands at #6 on the Hot 100 this week.
Eleven months after releasing her smash album, Lover, Taylor returns with an outstanding release. While most of the things Swift had planned for 2020 didn’t end up happening – it led to the creation of this surprise release. Discussing the album, Taylor shared: “Before this year I probably would’ve overthought when to release this music at the “perfect” time, but the times we’re living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed. My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world. That’s the side of uncertainty I can get on board with.” folklore is available now.
Connect with Soundazed
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.