Taylor Swift’s Folklore debuts at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart

Ronan Keating, Neck Deep, Logic and The Kid Laroi also claim new entries.
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The art of surprise has sent Taylor Swift straight to the top of this week’s Official Albums Chart as Folklore debuts at Number 1.

It earns Taylor her fifth consecutive chart-topping album in the UK, making her only the fifth female artist to score five or more UK Number 1 albums - joining Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion. View the acts with the most chart-topping albums in the UK.

Taylor’s eighth album was announced just hours before its release last week and tops the chart with streams and downloads only, notching up 37,000 chart sales. 67% of its week 1 total was streams, while 33% was downloads. In the process, Taylor claims the biggest week of album downloads this year, surpassing the opening week of Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By.

MORE: Every Number 1 album by a female solo artist

Taylor’s previous UK Number 1 albums are Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), and Lover (2019). View Taylor Swift’s full UK singles and albums chart history.

MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2020 so far

Ronan Keating is new at Number 2 with his eleventh studio album Twenty Twenty, earning him a ninth Top 10 record as a soloist, and Welsh pop-punk band Neck Deep match their highest chart position with All Distortions Are Intentional, new at Number 4.

Three albums rebound into the Top 10: Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia rises five spots to 8 following its Mercury Prize nomination, Bob Marley & The Wailers’ Legend lifts 11 places to Number 9 following a release on picture disc vinyl to commemorate what would have been Bob’s 75th birthday this year; and Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years – Don’t Stop climbs five to 10 following the death of founding member Peter Green.

MORE: The Official Top 40 biggest vinyl albums of 2020 so far

The final album by US rapper/producer Logic No Pressure lands at 11; Australian rapper The Kid Laroi enters at 12 with his debut set F**k Love; Fiona Apple’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters re-enters at 33 – the same position it debuted at in April - following a physical release; and former BRIT Award nominee Seasick Steve is new at 39 with his tenth record Love & Peace.

Finally, three One Direction albums return to the Top 40 following the group’s ten-year anniversary celebrations last week – 2012’s Take Me Home bounces back to 25, 2015’s Made In The A.M re-enters at 37, and 2014’s Four is at 40.

View this week's Official Albums Chart Top 100 in full

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CP

Courtney Puzzo

1

nice achievement though isn't it her lowest first week out of the 5 albums that debuted at #1 or close to it wasn't her best first week 1989 in 2014 with sales over 90,000 in the UK

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Marcothedonjuan

1

To be fair, "1989" had massive hype up to it's release where "Folklore" came out of nowhere.... :)

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Piran

7

It's also confirmed that she'll have three songs inside the Top 10 of the singles chart this week...

#6: 'Cardigan'
#8: 'Exile' [ft Bon Iver]
#10: 'The 1'

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Marcothedonjuan

1

She still has 12 out of the Top 16 spots on US Spotify. 6 spots out of the Top 10 with the Top 3 all Taylor. :)

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Piran

0

I think this album bomb will be bigger than most people are expecting! ;)

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Marcothedonjuan

3

HDD estimated 823K for Folklore. ;p

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Piran

1

So Billboard's figure might be even higher? I mean, all expectations for it have been surpassed so far! :)

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Marcothedonjuan

1

All I know is she is still doing numbers good enough for "first day streams" on Spotify and her first week sales period is over....lol. She's also still the number one album on US iTunes all day today....and it's almost 9PM EST...lol. This is a monster...lol. :)

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Piran

1

Haha, I think she's definitely going to set some more records on Monday too! ;)

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BleeUK

1

Not Keen on her new music at all, Taylor got famous by her Country Music work that was her amazing peak from 2006 to 2012,. from 2012 to 2018 has been okay, 37,000 chart sales that not a lot fro a huge artist, it should be like 300K if she was that popular, . i know 67% is streams with like ratio of 1,000 :1, while 33% was downloads (and smashed downloaded) but 33K is nothing to write about

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Piran

6

This news has just made my summer already! :)

Not only is the indie-folk pivot something I’ve wanted to see Taylor do for years now, but the songwriting is immaculate here! It’s almost like storytelling or poetry rather than lyrics.

I’d love to see this finally become the album that gives Taylor multiple weeks atop the albums chart, but as it is, she’s had a consecutive run at the top of this chart since 2012 & I’m incredibly happy even for that! ❤️

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Marcothedonjuan

1

Her songwriting ability is her greatest asset!!! It's given her two Album Of The Year Grammy's already! :)

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Piran

0

Maybe she'll get her third next year then! ;)

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🧡 oliviasnoodles 🍜

2

Well done, Taylor. You really deserve this. :)

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Marcothedonjuan

2

Congrats!!!!!!! :)