Game on. Taylor Swift has pulled out the big guns in her battle with Fontaines D.C. for the U.K. chart title.
Swift’s latest album Folklore blasted to No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart last week, based on streams and downloads alone (37,000 combined chart sales in total).
Though at the midway stage in the chart cycle, Folklore had slipped behind Irish rockers Fontaines D.C.’s sophomore album A Hero’s Death (Partisan) and Creeper’s Sex Death & The Infinite Void (Roadrunner).
Not so fast. In a surprise move, Swift’s U.K. record label EMI made the CD of Folklore available from Tuesday (Aug. 4) in stores and online, moving its planned release forward by three full days (Aug. 7).
It’s a strategy that gives Folklore a “fighting chance” to hold onto the chart crown for at least another week, the Official Charts Company reports.
Folklore is Swift’s fifth U.K. No. 1. And thanks to its staggered physical releases, it will likely settle-down in the top reaches of the Official U.K. Albums Chart for months to come. The cassette of Folklore is scheduled for Sept. 18 and the double vinyl should drop later, on Nov. 27.
Fontaines D.C., a five-piece post-punk band from Dublin, scored a Mercury Prize nomination for their April 2019 debut Dogrel, which peaked at No. 9 on the national albums chart.
The Official U.K. Singles and Albums Charts are published late Friday.
