Taylor Swift's 'Folklore' is first album in four years to top charts for six weeks in a row
Taylor Swift’s ‘Folklore’ has become the first album in four years to top the Billboard 200 for six weeks in a row.
The star’s eighth album arrived as a surprise release in July and was created in collaboration with The National’s Aaron Dessner and Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff.
According to Billboard, Swift has now scored the most weeks at Number One since Drake’s ‘Views’ held the top spot for 13 non-consecutive weeks in 2016.
‘Folklore’ now also holds the record for most weeks at Number One for any non-R&B or hip-hop album or album by a woman since Adele’s ’25’ stayed in pole position for 10 non-consecutive weeks between December 2015 and March 2016.
It has also obtained the most weeks in a row at the top for a non-R&B or hip-hop album or an album by a woman since ’25’ held onto the Number One spot for its first seven weeks on the chart.
The album’s chart dominance means that Swift now ties with Whitney Houston for the most weeks at the top of the Billboard chart by a woman. Both artists have spent 46 weeks at Number One across their careers. Swift’s only album to not take the top spot was her 2006 self-titled debut.
While ‘Folklore’ is no longer Number One in the UK, earlier this year it became the only album in the UK to spend three consecutive weeks at the chart’s peak in 2020. That feat made Swift the only international artist to hold that position since May 2019.
In a four-star review of ‘Folklore’, NME said: “[Swift’s eighth album] feels fresh, forward-thinking and, most of all, honest. […] It’s the sound of an artist who’s bored of calculated releases and wanted to try something different. Swift disappeared into the metaphorical woods while writing ‘Folklore’, and she’s emerged stronger than ever.”
