It’s been a busy year for Taylor Swift. Last summer, the singer released her eighth album, Folklore, which became one of the best-selling releases of 2020 and eventually took home a 2021 Grammy for Album Of The Year. Her run continued with the December release of Evermore, which also topped the charts. And earlier this month, Swift dropped her third album in less than 12 months with the re-recorded version of Fearless, her 2008 sophomore album, which, like, the other two, has topped the Billboard charts.
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 291,000 units sold in the chart dated April 24. This number is comprised of 179,000 pure album sales and 109,00 streaming equivalent album units. It makes her the first woman with three No. 1 albums in less than a year. Prior to this, the fastest a female recording artist was able to net three chart-topping projects was 14 months, when Donna Summer did it with Live And More (November 11, 1978), Bad Girls (June 16, 1979), and On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II (January 5, 1980).
Elsewhere, the new No. 1 ties Swift with Madonna for the second-most No. 1 albums over her career: nine, leaving her just two behind Barbra Streisand, who holds the most among women with 11. Swift also earned the biggest week of 2021 in terms of units sold, as well as the biggest week for a country album since Luke Bryan’s 2015 album Kill The Lights.
Further down the chart, DMX’s The Best Of DMX jumped from No. 73 to No. 2, following the rapper’s tragic death. Ariana Grande’s Positions also re-entered the top-10, thanks to the release of its vinyl LP and cassette, which helped boost the album from No. 17 to No. 6.