The singer and songwriter’s surprise album had the equivalent of 846,000 sales in the United States, a total beaten only by her own last two LPs.
A new Taylor Swift album usually arrives with a monthslong marketing rollout: radio singles, corporate tie-ins, a string of media appearances — all carefully choreographed to send her to No. 1.
For her latest release, “Folklore,” Swift threw out almost her entire playbook, yet still rocketed to the top with sales that most artists can only dream of.
“Folklore,” which came out on July 24 with less than 24 hours’ notice, opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s latest album chart with a whopping 846,000 sales in the United States, according to Nielsen Music. That’s the third-highest weekly total for any album in four years, beaten only by Swift’s last two albums: “Reputation” (1.2 million in 2017) and “Lover” (867,000 a year ago).
By comparison, Drake’s “Scorpion,” a monster streaming hit, opened with the equivalent of 732,000 sales in 2018, while Kendrick Lamar’s “DAMN.
