Due in part to changes in how album sales are counted, Taylor Swift’s second release of the year, “Evermore,” did not have the commercial impact of her first, although it was more than enough to hit No. 1 again.
“Evermore,” the sequel and “sister record” to Swift’s “Folklore,” released in July, topped the latest Billboard album chart with 329,000 in total sales, including 220 million streams, according to Nielsen.
It did so without the advantage of so-called album bundles — selling a copy of an album along with another item, like merchandise — a practice that Billboard largely did away with in October. (Another rule change, instituted in August, mandated that physical copies of an album that were sold bundled with a digital version would not count as a physical sale until it shipped to the customer.)
“Folklore,” which benefited from such packages, including 17 different physical versions out of the gate, sold 846,000 units in its first week, including 290 million streams and 615,000 copies sold as a full album, compared to 154,500 for “Evermore,” which was only available digitally. “Folklore,” buoyed by the new release and additional deals and versions released in time for the holidays, moved up to No. 3 from No. 11 this week, selling another 133,000 album units.
“Evermore” marked Swift’s eighth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, which she has ruled for nine nonconsecutive weeks across her two titles this year. The K-pop group BTS and the rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again were the only other artists to top the chart with two different albums in 2020.
At No. 2 was “Man on the Moon III: The Chosen,” by Kid Cudi, with 144,000 units. Michael Bublé’s “Christmas” was No. 4 and the rapper Jack Harlow’s debut album, “That’s What They All Say,” reached No. 5 in its debut week.
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