Just months after her first surprise album of 2020 hit #1, Taylor Swift has done it again with Evermore. Arriving on December 11, Evermore earned 329,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, giving it the fifth-largest week for any album in 2020. Evermore was only available as a digital download and via streaming services. The CD version of Evermore landed in stores on December 18, with more configurations coming in 2021, including vinyl LPs. Evermore also crossed one million in global sales in its first week with over half a billion total streams worldwide.
Evermore‘s “sister” album Folklore arrived this summer by surprise and debuted at #1 as well back in early August. Swift now has eight #1 albums in her career overall.
Billboard notes that Evermore’s first-week total units (329,000) and album sales (154,500) are the biggest for any album since merchandise/album bundles and concert ticket/album sale redemption offers stopped counting towards the Billboard 200 chart totals.
Additionally, Evermore lead single “Willow” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, giving her the #1 album and song for the second time in 2020. She achieved the same feat with Folklore and its single “Cardigan.” “Willow” is Swift’s seventh #1 song of her career.
Debuting at #2 on the album chart was Kid Cudi‘s Man on the Moon III: The Chosen with 144,000 equivalent album units earned. Swift’s Folklore jumps from #11 up to #1, in part due to sale prices, new alternate colored variants of the album on vinyl and more signed CD copies via her website. The third-highest debut of the week comes from Jack Harlow and his first studio album That’s What They All Say.
Michael Bublé‘s Christmas is at #4, with Carrie Underwood‘s My Gift at #6. Other holiday albums in the top 10 this week are Nat King Cole‘s The Christmas Song at #8 and Mariah Carey‘s Merry Christmas at #10.
Pop Smoke is at #7 with Bad Bunny at #9 rounding out the top 10.
