CHART STORY: A BIG FOLKIN' DEAL (UPDATE)

Taylor Swift has flexed her superstar muscle once again. With her surprise album folklore, the Republic icon dropped the year’s biggest debut to date, owning #1 on the HITS Top 50 with 844k. The set earns the 13 Management-repped Swift her largest streaming week ever, with 275m+ on-demand audio streams. It’s also the biggest bow since her 2019 album, Lover (867k), which increased 64% this week and leapt to #15. Monte Lipman, Jim Roppo and company are celebrating in folkloric regalia.

Among the records Tay broke with this album: the most first-day album streams by a female artist on Spotify (80.6m); the most streams for a pop album in its first 24 hours on Apple Music (35.5m); and the most U.S. and Global streams at Amazon Music for an Indie/Alternative album.

Earning 584k in pure sales, Swift’s folklore is now the #1 best-selling album in that category.

Debuting at #2 is Visionary/Def Jam’s Logic, who announced his retirement with his latest album, No Pressure. It earns Logic the second-biggest bow of his career with 211k units, trailing only his 2017 #1 album, Everybody (247k).

Juice WRLD and Pop Smoke slide to #3 and #4, respectively, with their heavy-streaming posthumous albums Legends Never Die (Grade A/Interscope) and Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon (Victor Victor/Republic). Columbia’s The Kid LAROI lands a Top 10 bow with his debut project, F*ck Love, at #8.

Streeting this week are projects from Alanis Morrissette, Brandy, Chris Tomlin, Rascal Flatts, Dominic Fike and a deluxe edition of Beyoncé’s The Lion King album.

Go to the HITS Top 50.