folklore trivia | 100 facts about the new Taylor Swift album

“Folklore” is the a new surprise album by Taylor Swift. It is, overall, her eighth album of her career.

The album has garnered rave reviews from critics and fans. So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this surprise release.

1. Folklore is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift
2. The album title is stylized in all lowercase
3. The album was released on July 24, 2020, through Republic Records
4. A surprise album, announced without pre-release promotional campaigns
5. Folklore was written and recorded while Swift was in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic
6. Musically, the album eschews the upbeat electropop sound of its predecessor for stripped-down, acoustic tunes driven by piano and guitar
7. Folklore features producers Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff
8. It is categorized by mainstream reviewers as an indie folk, alternative rock, electro-folk, and chamber pop record
9. The album portrays what Swift called “a collection of songs and stories that flowed like a stream of consciousness” rising out of her imagination
10. It manifests vivid storytelling from third-person narratives that details heartbreak and retrospection
11. “Cardigan” was released as the lead single from the album on July 27, 2020
12. “Exile”, featuring American indie folk band Bon Iver, and “Betty” are scheduled to be the second and third singles, respectively
13. Folklore received widespread critical acclaim, with emphasis on its sonic coherence, relaxed atmosphere, and lyrics based on fictional narratives
14. It broke numerous streaming records upon release
15. These records include a registered Guinness World Record for the biggest opening day for an album by a female artist on Spotify
16. The album sold two million copies in its first week globally
17. 1.3 million albums were sold on its first day
18. In the United States, it moved more than 500,000 units within its first three days
19. This marks the biggest debut week of 2020 in the country
20. Folklore marked the first time Swift strayed away from a traditional album rollout, instead opting to release the album suddenly
21. Swift first announced the album on her social media, 16 hours prior to its release
22. It was released to all digital music platforms at midnight on July 24, 2020
23. Eight limited-edition deluxe CDs and vinyls were also made available during the first week only, all of which featured different cover artwork and photos
24. The CDs are scheduled to be released on August 7, 2020
25. In addition, Swift sent replicas of the cardigan she wore in the music video for “Cardigan” to celebrity friends and supporters
26. Some of them are Jennifer Hudson, Kesha, Troye Sivan, Tan France, Martha Hunt, Jonathan Van Ness, Loren Gray, and Kobe Bryant’s daughter Natalia
27. Folklore generated three singles, with “Cardigan” serving as the lead single
28. Its release was accompanied by a music video directed by Swift and produced by Jil Hardin on July 24, 2020
29. The music video was released on YouTube alongside the album and lyric videos for each track
30. It was serviced to pop and adult pop radio stations on July 27
31. The same day, limited edition versions in digital, CD, 7-inch vinyl, and 12-inch vinyl formats were released for purchase on Swift’s official website
32. The voice memo that Swift originally sent to Dessner on April 27, 2020 after receiving his instrumental tracks for what would become “Cardigan” was included in the limited edition single
33. In this voice memo Swift describes her songwriting process and sings alternate lyrics a cappella over the track
34. Folklore received widespread critical acclaim for its sonic coherence and Americana-inspired poetic lyricism
35. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a weighted average score of 89
36. Based on 24 reviews
37. Indicating “universal acclaim”
38. It is the highest score for any of Swift’s albums
39. On the US Spotify chart, Folklore accumulated over 44 million streams in its first day
40. Thus surpassing Ariana Grande’s previous record of 31 million for Thank U, Next
41. The album’s 16 tracks occupied the top 16 spots
42. “The 1” placed first with 4.175 million streams
43. Thus setting a record for the biggest first-day song debut by a female artist
44. The album’s tracks occupied the entire top five of the US Apple Music chart and the top eight globally
45. The album also set the Amazon Music indie and alternative genre streaming record both worldwide and in the US
46. Meanwhile, on-demand streams for Folklore surpassed 72 million in the US on its first day
47. Surpassing the 44.3 million total of its predecessor Lover (2019)
48. Also, breaking the female record formerly held by Thank U, Next (55.9 million streams)
49. Folklore is the first album since Swift’s own Lover to move at least 500,000 units in one week
50. The eighth album extending Swift’s record as the female artist with the most albums debuting with over 500,000 sales in the US
51. Each of her studio albums, except her self-titled first album, have surpassed the half-million debut threshold
52. In its opening week on Spotify, Folklore was streamed more than 166.2 million times in the US
53. Marking the biggest domestic streaming debut week for an album by a female artist
54. This is second only to Thank U, Next’s 166.4 million streams
55. Tracks from Folklore debuted on the US Spotify weekly chart occupying the entire top 10
56. This made Swift the first female and second act overall (after Drake) to achieve this feat
57. In the United Kingdom, Folklore debuted atop the Official Albums Chart
58. Selling 37,000 copies and surpassing Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By for the biggest digital sales week of 2020 in the country
59. It became Swift’s fifth consecutive number-one album in the UK
60. Making her one of only five female artists to score at least five chart-toppers in the country, following Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion
61. On the UK Singles Chart, “Cardigan”, “Exile”, and “The 1” opened at numbers six, eight and ten, respectively
62. Swift has a total of sixteen UK top-ten hits
63. This made her the first woman in UK history to debut three top-ten songs simultaneously
64. In Ireland, Folklore debuted at number-one
65. Scoring the country’s biggest opening week of 2020
66. The album outperformed the rest of the top five combined
67. Swift became the first female solo artist to chart five number-one albums in Ireland in the twenty-first century
68. The tracks “Exile”, “Cardigan” and “The 1” debuted at the third, fourth and seventh spots on the Irish Singles Chart, respectively
69. With that Swift’s career total top-ten hits in the country is fifteen
70. Folklore debuted at number one in Belgium and Norway
71. It also debuted in the top five in the Netherlands, Scotland, Sweden, and Lithuania
72. And in the top ten in Germany, Italy, and Japan
73. In China, the album sold nearly 720,000 copies in its first week
74. Immediately became the best-selling western female album of the year
75. In Australia, Folklore debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart
76. It was Swift’s sixth album to do so
77. Giving her more chart-toppers in the country than any other artist between 2010 and 2020
78. Moreover, each of the album’s sixteen tracks entered the top 50 of the ARIA Singles Chart
79. Breaking the all-time record for the most simultaneous debuts in one week
80. “Cardigan” became Swift’s sixth Australian number-one hit
81. “Exile”, “The 1”, “The Last Great American Dynasty” and “My Tears Ricochet” entered the top-ten
82. This made Folklore Swift’s first album since 1989 (2014) to earn five top-ten hits in Australia
83. And Swift the artist with the most top-ten hits of 2020 in Australia thus far
84. In New Zealand, Folklore opened at number one
85. “Cardigan”, “Exile”, and “The 1” charted in the top ten of the New Zealand singles chart
86. “The Last Great American Dynasty” placed thirteenth in New Zealand singles chart
87. Folklore amassed over 80.6 million streams on Spotify within its first day of release
88. Thus arning a Guinness World Record for the most opening-day streams for an album by a female artist
89. The streaming numbers on Spotify are second overall to Drake’s Scorpion
90. It also surpassed Juice Wrld’s Legends Never Die for the biggest streaming debut of 2020
91. Globally, the album’s tracks claimed eight of the top 10 spots on Spotify
92. There “Cardigan” debuted at number one with 7.742 million streams
93. This is the most single-day streams for a song in 2020 thus far
94. Folklore also broke the Apple Music record for the most-streamed pop album within 24 hours, with 35.47 million streams
95. In its opening week on Spotify, Folklore was streamed more than 329.1 million times worldwide
96. Globally, this marked the platform’s biggest opening week of 2020
97. It is also the second-biggest streaming week for an album by a female artist in history, after Thank U, Next (375 million streams)
98. Republic Records reported that the album’s first-week audio and video streams exceed totals of 500 million
99. Hugh McIntyre of Forbes noted how Folklore seemed to be “outperforming” its predecessor Lover in its first week despite having no pre-released singles with several tracks from Folklore accumulating bigger streaming totals than any of the campaigned, “intensely-hyped” singles from Lover
100. Music critic Tom Hull said that, “judging from download counts and reviews”, Swift has “caught the spirit of the times” with Folklore’s “long, pleasant, intricate songs”