Taylor Swift breaks 24 hour streaming record on Spotify for 8th album folklore
Taylor Swift’s folklore nearly broke the internet when the surprised album dropped last Friday, and now it’s officially breaking Guinness World Records titles.
Just a few days after its release, we’re pleased to confirm that her 8th album has achieved the most day-one streams of an album on Spotify (female) after being streamed an impressive 80.6 million times.
Additionally, the album set a new 24-hour streaming record on Apple Music (35.47 million) and sold a reported 1.3 million copies worldwide in the first 24 hours, according to Republic Records.
In the US in the first three days (24-26 July), folklore shifted more than 500,000 album-equivalent units to out-sell any other release’s first-week US sales in 2020, and sold 1.3 million copies worldwide.
Also in the US, on-demand audio streams exceeded 72 million in the first 24 hours, breaking a record previously set by Ariana Grande’s 2019 album thank u, next which stood at 55.9 million.
folklore is a twist on Swift’s traditional country-pop style, as the style reflects the woodsy cover that represents the album.
Lyrically, there is a strong focus on storytelling at the album title conveys, which is communicated by indie folk, alternative rock rhythm and sound.
Swift’s most impressive element of this latest passion project is the fact that it was developed in quarantine.
Her lockdown labour of love, which she even kept a secret from her record label, was released just hours after she announced the surprise set on Twitter:
The Grammy award winning artist’s eighth studio album features the singles “cardigan” and “exile” (feat. Bon Iver, and co-written with the band’s Justin Vernon).
As Taylor is mostly known for her crafty lyrics, it comes as no surprise that she co-wrote 15 of the 16 tracks on folklore (she penned “my tears ricochet” alone), predominantly alongside producers Aaron Dessner – a member of the rock band The National – or long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff.
On 24 July 2020, folklore tracks occupied the entire Top 5 and eight of the Top 10 on Spotify’s Global Top 200 streaming chart: “cardigan” (7,742,178 streams), “the 1” (7,420,303), “exile” (6,977,835), “the last great american dynasty” (5,961,910) and “my tears ricochet” (5,721,464) led the way, with “mirrorball”, “august” and “seven” rounding off the Top 10.
All 16 tracks were in the Top 25, with “hoax” (3,061,511) the lowest-ranked at No.23.
As of 27 July 2020, “cardigan” remained at the top of the Global Top 200 chart for a fourth consecutive day, with 4,946,260 streams. The most popular song from folklore had amassed a total of 22,967,717 streams as of the same date.
With this recent accolade, Swift breaks fellow pop star Ariana Grande’s record, thank u, next, which also held Spotify’s previous record for the most streamed album by a female artist in the first 24 hours (70.2 million).
By comparison, Swift’s last album, 2019’s Lover, racked up 55 million streams in the first 24 hours after release.
We’re pleased to acknowledge the hard work and dedication that went into Taylor’s latest success, and look forward to seeing what records album nine achieves.
