In under 24 hours, Taylor Swift’s 5 Star album folklore sold over 1.3 million copies around the world. It also shattered “the global record for first-day album streams on Spotify by a female artist” with 80.6 million streams and delivered “the most-streamed pop album on Apple Music in 24 hours” with 35.47M streams. Additionally, folklore set the U.S. and Worldwide Amazon Music Indie/Alternative Streaming Record.
folklore is the ten-time GRAMMY® Award-winning, record-breaking superstar’s eighth album. folklore arrives as a fan favorite and ranks as Taylor‘s highest rated critically acclaimed album on Metacritic, currently ranked 96.5.
Here are what critics are saying about folklore:
“A- Rating” – Consequence of Sound, Katie Moulton
“On folklore, Swift has come of age, emotionally and sonically, and proven herself — not that she needed to — as not only an exceptionally autonomous auteur but a nimble collaborator with an ever-broadening palate.” – Consequence of Sound, Katie Moulton
“Taylor Swift has leveled the hell up” – Paste Magazine, Ellen Johnson
“…one of her best, most perfectly-produced projects ever.” – Paste Magazine, Ellen Johnson
“It’s hard to remember any contemporary pop superstar that has indulged in a more serious, or successful, act of sonic palette cleansing than Swift has with her eighth album, a highly subdued but rich affair written and recorded in quarantine conditions.” – Variety, Chris Willman
“Folklore’: There’s Nothing Quiet About This Songwriting Tour De Force.” – Billboard, Jason Lipshutz
“For the girl who likes big production, earworm anacondas, shiny, gleaming instruments and the over-the-top approach, what she did with her summer vacation is counterintuitive. Yet somehow ,listening to the entire song cycle, it feels like she’s made her way home and taken us with her.” – Hits Magazine, Holly Gleason
“Indisputably songs to cherish on vinyl and clutch to your heart to ease the horror of dark days, of which, sadly, there have been too many lately. Thanks to Taylor Swift, at least today will be brighter.” – Music Week, Mark Sutherland
“There is less too, of Swift’s confessional lyrical style, as she turns to observing other lives as expertly as she dissects her own. She does it superbly too casually dropping gems such as, ‘They told me all my cages were mental/So I get wasted, like all my potential’.” – Music Week, Mark Sutherland
“Swift is no ordinary pop star. And certainly no ordinary songwriter. Her craft has always been revered by the songwriting cognoscenti as well as the pop fandom.” – Music Week, Mark Sutherland
Most of the things Taylor Swift had planned for the summer of 2020 didn’t end up happening but… there was something magical that did happen, the surprise release of her 8th studio album, folklore.
folklore tracklisting
- the 1
- cardigan
- the last great american dynasty
- exile (featuring bon iver)
- my tears ricochet
- mirrorball
- seven
- august
- this is me trying
- illicit affairs
- invisible strings
- mad woman
- epiphany
- betty
- peace
- hoax
- (bonus track) the lakes