Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Folklore,” has sold over 2 million copies worldwide in one week, already solidifying its place as one of 2020’s top-selling albums.
Swift’s eighth studio album, which she announced roughly 15 hours before its surprise release, also generated more than 500 million streams across various platforms throughout its debut week. Republic Records, Swift’s music label, announced earlier this week that the album sold over 1.3 million copies in its first 24 hours alone.
“Folklore’s” performance has already broken records in the United States and worldwide. In its first day on Spotify, the album accumulated 80.6 million streams, setting a new benchmark on the platform for first-day streams by a female artist. Swift also holds the record for the female artist with the most albums debuting above 500,000 sales in the U.S., with all but her first album surpassing the mark.
“Cardigan,” “exile (feat. Bon Iver)” and “the 1” — three of Swift’s newest tracks — have sat at the top of the United States Top 50 chart on Spotify since their release last week. And “Folklore” did well on Apple Music, too, breaking the 24-hour record for most-streamed pop album with over 35 million streams on its first day.
Final first-week U.S. sales estimates have yet to be announced, but Swift’s album is pacing to claim the title for biggest debut of 2020. Juice WRLD’s posthumous album “Legends Never Die” currently holds that record, with around 500,000 units sold in the one-week period. And it’s a record Swift seems easily poised to take: Billboard reported that her album also turned out over 500,000 sales in just three days.
Apart from the critical success of “Folklore,” Swift’s seventh studio album earned five MTV 2020 Video Music Award nominations this year. She earned two nods for the album’s title track, “Lover,” and three for her single “The Man.”