The latest album from Taylor Swift almost broke the Internet when it was released last Friday (July 24) and now Folklore is breaking Guinness World Records titles.
Taylor’s eighth album was streamed a whopping 80.6 million times and it achieved the most day-one streams of an album on Spotify for a female artiste. Based on Republic Records, Folklore set a new 24-hour streaming record on Apple Music (35.47 million) and sold a reported 1.3 million copies worldwide in the first 24 hours.
In America, within the first three days (July 24-26) the album shifted more than 500,000 album-equivalent units to out-sell any other release’s first week American sales this year and sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Within the first 24 hours, the on-demand audio streams surpassed 72 million, breaking a record previously set by Ariana Grande’s 2019 album Thank U, Next, which stood at 55.9 million.
Taylor’s latest album is a twist on her traditional country-pop style and the album cover has a woodsy element. The lyrics are based on story-telling and is communicated by indie folk, alternative rock rhythm and sound. The entire album was made during the Covid-19 lockdown. Her work was kept a secret from her record label and was only released after Taylor announced it on Twitter.
The Grammy award-winning artiste’s eighth studio album features the singles Cardigan and Exile (feat. Bon Iver, and co-written with the band’s Justin Vernon).
As she is mostly known for her crafty lyrics, it comes as no surprise that she co-wrote 15 of the 16 tracks on Folklore (she penned My Tears Ricochet herself), predominantly alongside producers Aaron Dessner — a member of the rock band The National — or long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff.
On July 24, Folklore tracks occupied the entire Top 5 and eight of the Top 10 on Spotify’s Global Top 200 streaming chart: Cardigan (7,742,178 streams), The 1 (7,420,303), Exile (6,977,835), The Last Great American Dynasty (5,961,910) and My Tears Ricochet (5,721,464) led the way, with Mirrorball, August and Seven rounding off the Top 10.
All 16 tracks were in the Top 25, with Hoax (3,061,511) the lowest-ranked at No 23.
As of Monday (July 27), Cardigan remained at the top of the Global Top 200 chart for a fourth consecutive day, with 4,946,260 streams. The most popular song from Folklore had amassed a total of 22,967,717 streams as of the same date.
With this recent accolade, Swift breaks fellow pop star Ariana Grande’s record, Thank U, Next, which also held Spotify’s previous record for the most-streamed album by a female artiste in the first 24 hours (70.2 million).
By comparison, Swift’s last album Lover, which was released last year, racked up 55 million streams in the first 24 hours after release.
Surprise 🤗 Tonight at midnight I’ll be releasing my 8th studio album, folklore; an entire brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into. Pre-order at https://t.co/zSHpnhUlLb pic.twitter.com/4ZVGy4l23b
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2020