Taylor Swift Becomes the Second Female Artist to Break Billboard 200 Chart Record
Taylor Swift is racking up the accolades following her eighth studio album, Folklore. So far, that includes a couple of weeks on the Billboard 200 chart — a feat that puts the “Cardigan” singer in some very exclusive company.
Swift is now the second woman to have six or more albums each spend multiple weeks on Billboard‘s flagship chart. The only other female artist who can make that claim is Barbra Streisand. All in all, just 11 total artists — Garth Brooks being one of them — have reached the same pinnacle.
The news comes as Folklore logs two weeks at No. 1 following its surprise July 24 drop. Six of Swift’s seven No. 1 albums did multiple weeks at that same position. The most prolonged stays were for Fearless (11 weeks in 2008-09), Red (seven weeks in 2012-13) and Speak Now (six weeks in 2010-11).
Not that Tay’s chart-topping achievement should come as a shock to Swifties or sales analysts. Indeed, Folklore marked the most significant album debut of the year so far. According to Nielsen Music, the effort notched a whopping first-week figure of 846,000 copies sold in the United States.
Folklore finds Swift shedding her previous pop persona for a more subdued feel with indie-folk stunners such as “Betty” and the aforementioned “Cardigan.” The singer went straight to the source for those vibes — the album was primarily produced by Aaron Dessner, guitarist of everyman indie-rockers the National. The collection also contains a guest spot from Justin Vernon, the mastermind behind folky genre-shifters Bon Iver.
Apart from Swift, Streisand and Brooks, the only other artists who’ve had six or more albums spend multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 are the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Eminem, Jay-Z, Elton John, Led Zeppelin and Bruce Springsteen.
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