Taylor Swift’s surprise album Evermore tops UK’s Official Albums Chart as she becomes the first musician to do so twice in one year since David Bowie
Taylor Swift has claimed the Number 1 spot on the UK’s Official Albums Chart with her ninth studio release Evermore, it was announced on Friday.
The singer, 31, became the first musician in four years to hold the spot with two different albums in one calendar year, as she also topped the charts with her album Folklore, which she released in July.
Taylor’s eighth studio album spent three weeks at the top of the albums chart after it was released, and she surprised fans with the release of Evermore last week.
Winner! Taylor Swift’s surprise album Evermore topped UK’s Official Albums Chart on Friday, as she became the first musician to do so twice in one year since David Bowie
In a rarely seen feat, Taylor is the first musician to top the UK’s Official Albums Chart twice in a year since David Bowie.
The late star was the last person to do so after he earned two Number One albums posthumously in January and February 2016, after the release of Blackstar and Best of Bowie shortly following his tragic death from liver cancer.
Taylor released her ninth studio album with just 16 hours notice, and just five months after the release of Folklore, alongside the music video for her first single Willow.
Exciting: Taylor’s eighth studio album spent three weeks at the top of the albums chart after it was released, and she surprised fans with the release of Evermore (pictured) last week
With the greats: Bowie (pictured in 1985) was the last person to earn two Number One albums with the release of Blackstar and Best of Bowie shortly after his death in 2016
She announced the album on Twitter, writing: ‘To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the folklorian woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.’
Detailing how much she loved Folklore, she went on: ‘In making it, I felt less like I was departing and more like I was returning. I loved the escapism I found in these imaginary/not imaginary tales.
‘I loved the ways you welcomed the dreamscapes and tragedies and epic tales of love lost and found into your lives. So I just kept writing them.
‘And I loved creating these songs with Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, WB, and Justin Vernon. We’ve also welcomed some new (and longtime) friends to our musical kitchen table this time around…’
Creative: Taylor announced the release of Evermore on Twitter, and wrote in a statement that she ‘loved the escapism’ when she was writing Folklore and was keen to continue
Evermore features 15 songs in the tracklist and has been produced by Taylor, Aaron Dessner, and Jack Antonoff, and also has collaborations with Bon Iver, Haim, Marcus Mumford and The National.
Taylor’s last album release, Lover, was in 2019. Her 2006 eponymous debut studio album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s.
Having sold more than 50 million albums and 150 million singles globally, Swift is one of the world’s best-selling music artists of all time.
Her accolades include 10 Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and seven Guinness World Records; she is the most-awarded act and woman at the American Music Awards (29 wins) and Billboard Music Awards (23 wins), respectively.
‘I kept writing’: Evermore features 15 songs and was produced by Taylor, Aaron Dessner, and Jack Antonoff, and saw her collaborate with Bon Iver, Haim, Marcus Mumford and The National
Unexpected: Taylor completely surprised Swifties in July with her Instagram announcement that she would be releasing Folklore at midnight, sharing an image and tracklist for the album