{"id":2443,"date":"2021-10-10T15:55:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T22:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2022-05-12T16:44:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T16:44:28","slug":"taylor-swifts-fearless-taylors-version-returns-to-no-1-on-billboard-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/?p=2443","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift&#8217;s &#8216;Fearless (Taylor&#8217;s Version)&#8217; Returns to No. 1 on Billboard 200"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<script>\r\nif( document.getElementById( \"builder-styles-css\" ) ) document.getElementById( \"builder-styles-css\" ).insertAdjacentHTML( \"beforebegin\", \"<link rel='stylesheet' href='https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/wp-content\/themes\/themify-music\/themify\/themify-builder\/css\/themify-builder-style.css' type='text\/css' \/>\" );\r\n<\/script>\r\n\t\t\t\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Plus: Meek Mill&#8217;s &#8216;Expensive Pain&#8217; and Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga&#8217;s &#8216;Love for Sale&#8217; debut in the top 10.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/taylor-swift\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Taylor Swift<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>&nbsp;returns to No. 1 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/charts\/billboard-200\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Billboard 200<\/a>&nbsp;albums chart for a second nonconsecutive week atop the list. The album surges from No. 157 to No. 1 with 152,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 7 (up 1,931%), according to MRC Data. The set vaults back to No. 1 after the Oct. 1 release of a signed CD available only in Swift\u2019s webstore and its vinyl LP.&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>&nbsp;debuted at No. 1 nearly six months ago, on the April 24-dated Billboard 200 chart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also in the new top 10:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/meek-mill\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Meek Mill<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Expensive Pain<\/em>&nbsp;arrives at No. 3, while&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/tony-bennett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tony Bennett<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/lady-gaga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lady Gaga<\/a>\u2019s second collaborative album,&nbsp;<em>Love for Sale<\/em>, bows at No. 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on\u00a0multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid\/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Oct. 16, 2021-dated chart [where\u00a0<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>\u00a0returns to No. 1] will be posted in full on\u00a0<em>Billboard<\/em>&#8216;s website on Oct. 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>\u2019s 152,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 7, album sales comprise 146,000 (up 15,807%), SEA units comprise 6,000 (down 1%, equaling 8.72 million streams of the album\u2019s tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of the 146,000 copies sold for the week, CD sales comprise 77,000, while vinyl LP sales total 67,000. The album sold about 1,000 in cassettes and 1,000 in digital downloads, too. (The album was discounted at digital retail, which spurred a 268% increase in digital album sales, but only 1,000 copies sold for the week.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Strikingly, 29% of the album\u2019s to-date CD sales were generated in the week ending Oct. 7, concurrent with the availability of its signed CD. The signed CD was only sold via Swift\u2019s webstore, for a limited time, during a pre-order window in late September. (Swift apparently signed so many copies, she\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/taylorswift13\/status\/1440046696394682375\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cmay never write the same again,\u201d as her hand \u201cis now frozen in the permanent shape of a claw.\u201d<\/a>) Of\u00a0<em>Fearless (Taylor&#8217;s Version)<\/em>&#8216;s 400,000 total album sales to-date, CD sales comprise 264,000 of that sum &#8212; with 77,000 of those CDs sold in the latest tracking week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for the vinyl LP sales of&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>, its 67,000 sold marks the fourth-largest sales week for a vinyl album since MRC Data began tracking music sales in 1991. Her own&nbsp;<em>Evermore<\/em>&nbsp;holds the record, with 102,000 sold in its first week of availability on vinyl (June 12-dated chart). The debut frames of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/olivia-rodrigo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Sour<\/em>&nbsp;(76,000; Sept. 4) and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/billie-eilish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Billie Eilish<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Happier Than Ever<\/em>&nbsp;(73,000; Aug. 14) are in second and third place, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>&nbsp;was issued in two vinyl editions: a gold-colored version that was sold through Swift\u2019s webstore and widely available to all retailers and a red-colored edition exclusive to Target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the rush in sales for&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>, its release-to-date sales now climb to 400,000 in the U.S. That makes it the No. 2-selling album of 2021, second only to Swift\u2019s own 2020 release&nbsp;<em>Evermore<\/em>, which has sold 434,000 copies in 2021. The No. 3-selling album of 2021 is Rodrigo\u2019s 2021 release&nbsp;<em>Sour<\/em>, with 378,000. Thus, Swift has both the Nos. 1 and 2-selling albums of 2021, as well as the year\u2019s top-selling album&nbsp;<em>released&nbsp;<\/em>in 2021:&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For good measure, Swift has three albums among the top 10-sellers of 2021, as\u00a0<em>Folklore<\/em>\u00a0is the No. 7 best-selling album of the year, with 228,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the return of&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>&nbsp;to No. 1 after nearly six months, it\u2019s the first album to wait that long between weeks on top since last November, when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/luke-combs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Luke Combs<\/a>\u2019&nbsp;<em>What You See Is What You Get<\/em>&nbsp;returned to No. 1 after nearly a year. (Earlier in 2021, on the June 12-dated chart, Swift\u2019s own&nbsp;<em>Evermore<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/articles\/news\/9583265\/taylor-swift-evermore-billboard-200-chart-return-number-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">returned<\/a>&nbsp;to No. 1 for a fourth week, after nearly five months, following its vinyl LP release.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, with&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>\u2019s leap from No. 157 to No. 1, it has the largest positional jump to No. 1 since the April 12, 1997, chart, when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/the-notorious-big\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Notorious B.I.G.<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Life After Death<\/em>&nbsp;rose 176-1 after street date violation sales enabled its debut on the chart a week early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, Swift\u2019s total weeks at No. 1, across all nine of her No. 1 albums, now rises to 53. She continues to have the third-most weeks atop the list dating to the chart\u2019s 1956 start.\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/the-beatles\" target=\"_blank\">The Beatles<\/a>\u00a0have the most, with 132, while\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/elvis-presley\" target=\"_blank\">Elvis Presley<\/a>\u00a0is in second place with 67.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>&nbsp;is a re-recorded version of Swift\u2019s No. 1 2008 album&nbsp;<em>Fearless<\/em>. The re-recorded album has 26 tracks, including re-recordings of the original 13 songs on&nbsp;<em>Fearless<\/em>, along with the six bonus songs added to a 2009 reissue of&nbsp;<em>Fearless<\/em>&nbsp;(dubbed the Platinum Edition) and the 2010 single \u201cToday Was a Fairytale.\u201d Beyond those 20 re-recordings,&nbsp;<em>Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>&nbsp;also has six newly recorded \u201cfrom the vault\u201d songs that were written for the original&nbsp;<em>Fearless<\/em>&nbsp;album but were never recorded and released until 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At No. 2 on the new Billboard 200,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/drake\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Drake<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Certified Lover Boy<\/em>&nbsp;is a non-mover with 110,000 equivalent album units earned (down 19%). The album spent its first three weeks on the chart at No. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/meek-mill\" target=\"_blank\">Meek Mill<\/a>\u00a0collects his seventh top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as\u00a0<em>Expensive Pain<\/em>\u00a0debuts at No. 3. The set earned 95,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Oct. 7. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 82,000 (equaling 110.53 million on-demand streams of the set\u2019s songs), album sales comprise 10,000 and TEA units comprise 3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/youngboy-never-broke-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">YoungBoy Never Broke Again<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Sincerely, Kentrell<\/em>&nbsp;falls from No. 1 to No. 4 in its second week with 71,000 equivalent album units earned (down 48%).&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/lil-nas-x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lil Nas X<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Montero<\/em>&nbsp;dips 3-5 (45,000; down 22%), Olivia Rodrigo\u2019s former No. 1&nbsp;<em>Sour<\/em>&nbsp;moves 5-6 (just over 43,000; down 5%) and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/doja-cat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Doja Cat<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Planet Her<\/em>&nbsp;is down 6-7 (43,000; down 2%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga\u2019s second collaborative album,&nbsp;<em>Love for Sale<\/em>, debuts at No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The pair\u2019s first project,&nbsp;<em>Cheek to Cheek<\/em>, debuted at No. 1 in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Love for Sale<\/em>&nbsp;is a covers collection of songs written by Cole Porter.&nbsp;<em>Cheek to Cheek<\/em>&nbsp;featured renditions of favorites from the American songbook by an assortment of songwriters.&nbsp;<em>Love for Sale<\/em>&nbsp;starts with 41,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 38,000; SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 3.85 million on-demand streams of the set\u2019s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Love for Sale<\/em>\u00a0marks Bennett\u2019s sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200, and Lady Gaga\u2019s 10th top 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bennett achieved his first top 10 in 1962 with&nbsp;<em>I Left My Heart in San Francisco<\/em>. It climbed from No. 11 to No. 7 on the Monoaural LP\u2019s chart dated Oct. 6, 1962. (At the time, there were two main album charts, a Monoaural LP\u2019s chart, and a Stereo LP\u2019s chart.)&nbsp;Gaga\u2019s first top 10 came on the March 7, 2009-dated Billboard 200, when&nbsp;<em>The Fame<\/em>&nbsp;rose 26-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With&nbsp;<em>Love for Sale<\/em>\u2019s top 10 arrival, Bennett has a 59-year span of top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 \u2013 the longest span of top 10s for a living artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/nat-king-cole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nat \u201cKing\u201d Cole<\/a>, who died in 1965, has a greater span of top 10s among all acts: a 63-year and eight-month span between his first top 10,&nbsp;<em>Love Is the Thing<\/em>, in April of 1957 and his most recent top 10,&nbsp;<em>The Christmas Song<\/em>, in January of 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 95-year-old Bennett made his Billboard 200 debut with the simply-titled&nbsp;<em>Tony<\/em>&nbsp;on Feb. 23, 1957 (when the chart was known as Best Selling Pop Albums).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rounding out the new top 10 on the Billboard 200 is a pair of former No. 1s:\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/morgan-wallen\" target=\"_blank\">Morgan Wallen<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>Dangerous: The Double Album<\/em>\u00a0falls 7-9 (40,000 equivalent album units; up 2%) and\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/kanye-west\" target=\"_blank\">Kanye West<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>Donda<\/em>\u00a0drops 4-10 (39,000; down 20%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: billboard.com<\/p>\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-2443\" data-postid=\"2443\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-2443 themify_builder themify_builder_front\">\r\n\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<!-- \/themify_builder_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Plus: Meek Mill&#8217;s &#8216;Expensive Pain&#8217; and Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga&#8217;s &#8216;Love for Sale&#8217; debut in the top 10. Taylor Swift\u2019s&nbsp;Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version)&nbsp;returns to No. 1 on the&nbsp;Billboard 200&nbsp;albums chart for a second nonconsecutive week atop the list. The album surges from No. 157 to No. 1 with 152,000 equivalent album units earned in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-now","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","no-post-comment","no-post-author"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Taylor-Swift-fearless-album-art-cr-Beth-Garrabrant-billboard-1548-1617974680-compressed2.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2725,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443\/revisions\/2725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicnow.iprorecords.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}