Latest Taylor Swift Album 'Folklore' Sets New Apple Music Streaming Record for a Pop Release

Taylor Swift's new album has achieved a new high for most streamed pop album on Apple Music since its surprise release last week (via Deadline). Folklore set a record for the most streams in a 24-window on the service, reaching 35.47 million plays.

taylor swift folklore
Its success was even more impressive on Spotify, where the singer-songwriter's eighth studio album racked up 79.4 million listens in its first 24 hours of availability, according to Swift's Republic Records label.

Written and recorded remotely during the first few months of the global health crisis, Folklore finds the 30-year-old singer-songwriter teaming up with The National's Aaron Dessner and longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff for a set of ruminative and lo-fi bedroom pop songs.

Since its Thursday release, the album also surpassed 1.3 million global sales in its first twenty-four hours, which should see the album easily debut at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, giving it the best showing since Swift's Lover album came out in 2019.

Swift and Apple have famously had a somewhat rocky relationship in previous years, with the artist in 2015 penning an open letter to ‌Apple Music‌ about the service's initial stance on refusing to pay royalties to artists during the three-month free trial period. Swift opposed this aspect of ‌Apple Music‌, so she decided to keep her 2014 album 1989 off of ‌Apple Music‌ at the time.

Soon after the letter was publicized, Apple reversed course and began paying artists during this period of time when new subscribers are on the free trial of ‌Apple Music‌. This eventually led to a closer relationship between Swift and Apple, with her music debuting on the service along with the launch of a series of Apple Music ads starring Swift that debuted throughout the spring of 2016.

More recently, last year Swift partnered with Apple in the company's retail store-hosted "Music Lab" sessions, in which customers find out what inspired artists to write their songs.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
apple watch ultra yellow

What's Next for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3

Friday April 25, 2025 2:44 pm PDT by
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too. 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple didn't update the...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Apple Logo Spotlight Blue

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine

Thursday April 24, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports. The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
ipad air magic keyboard feature

iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu. This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...

Top Rated Comments

mnsportsgeek Avatar
62 months ago
I love reading comments from tech nerds about Taylor Swift on this website. Never fails to make me laugh.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Knowledge Navigator Avatar
62 months ago
Sidenote:

Of those 35.47 million plays, 35.46 million users stopped playing after 5 seconds.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lkrupp Avatar
62 months ago

I love reading comments from tech nerds about Taylor Swift on this website. Never fails to make me laugh.
Problem is they're not tech nerds. They’re tech nerd wannabes who want us to believe they know what they are talking about.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Caliber26 Avatar
62 months ago
She’s been in a never-ending stream of personal feuds and drama with so many folks in her industry, always portraying herself as the victim. At some point you have to look at the common denominator and stop supporting cunning narcissists like this.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
airbatross Avatar
62 months ago
It’s really good, I’m not surprised.. I’ve been streaming it on :apple:Music non stop.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
62 months ago
I don’t get it. Her music does nothing for me. ?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)