Taylor Swift's "Folklore" remains at number one on the UK Official Albums Chart for the second week.
The American singer-songwriter's eighth studio album has a lead of over 3,500 chart sales against closest competitor "A Hero's Death" by Irish post-punk bank Fontaines D.C. This makes it Swift's first album to hit number one album in the U.K. the longest.
Most of her albums only last one week in the top spot of the album charts. These were "Red" in 2012, "1989" in 2014, "Reputation" in 2017, and "Lover" in 2019. This achievement also makes Taylor Swift the first female artist to consistently make her studio albums hit number 1 in the U.K. charts.
Fontaines D.C.'s second album "A Hero's Death" was estimated to dethrone "Folklore" at the top of the charts. However, Swift managed to maintain the number one spot by releasing the CD version of her surprise album. EMI, Swift's record label in the U.K., made this possible and in an attempt to keep the American singer's album in the first place.
Retailers stocked copies of the Folklore album and started shipping pre-orders to fans. The sales from these physical copies significantly boosted the said album's chance in remaining at the top spot and keep album competitors at bay.
Swift's album will be launched in other formats later this year, with the release cassette rolling out on September 18 and the vinyl editions on November 27. As for the digital release, Swift's eighth album was made available online last month (July 24). She announced its launch a day before its release, propelling it to number one in the albums chart. It sold over 37,000 copies while it hit over 24,000 streams and over 12,000 downloads. All these contributed to pushing "Folklore" to the top spot last Friday, August 31.
NME's four star review mentions: "The glossy production [Swift's] lent on for the past half-decade is cast aside for simpler, softer melodies and wistful instrumentation. It's the sound of an artist who's bored of calculated releases and wanted to try something different."
The album is a surprising departure from her usual style of country pop. Instead, the tracks lean more towards indie vibe and experimentation. Swift's album, stylized as "folklore" (all lowercase), enjoys sitting on the top spot in the album charts not only in the UK but also around the world. In the US, the indie-leaning album sold over 850,000 copies within a week.
Prior to "Folklore," Ellie Goulding's album "Brightest Blue" held the top spot until July 30, 2020. Before that, "Legends Never Die" from Juice Wrld was number one up to July 23, 2020.
Other album chart toppers in the UK are also something to look out for. "Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon" by rapper-songwriter Pop Smoke sits on the third spot. On the fourth spot is "Legends Never Die" by the late rapper Juice Wrld. As mentioned, the album was number one a few weeks before. British punk rock band Creeper enjoys the fifth spot with their album "Sex, Death & The Infinite Void."
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