“Taylor’s Version” of the 2008 Taylor Swift hit “Love Story” was greeted as a new hit by much of her fan base. The re-recording has entered the Rolling Stone songs chart at No. 4, with 137,100 song units to its credit in its first week out. “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” accumulated 14.3 million streams during its initial frame.
Interest in Swift was high enough that she actually landed three albums in the top 15 this week. Her 2020 releases “Evermore” and “Folklore” were in the top 10, as they often have been in recent weeks, at Nos. 6 and 10.
More of a surprise was her 2008 “Fearless” album jumping way back up to No. 15 — with listeners apparently enthused enough about the “Love Story” remake to go back and revisit the 13-year-old album that generated the original “Love Story.” Some fans’ renewed nostalgia for the album obviously outweighed Swift’s desire to deflect streams away from her Big Machine catalog. The original “Fearless” album picked up 23.8 million streams for the week… but only 626 album sales.
The strength of the new “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” wasn’t enough to beat Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License.” But, in that song’s sixth week, something else finally did: “Calling My Phone” by Lil Tjay and 6LACK. The track bowed at No. 1 with 212,600 song units and 28.9 million streams.
“Drivers License” was pushed down a spot to No. 2, and last week’s second place finisher, Cardi B’s “Up,” similarly moved down one to No. 3. After Swift in the No. 4 spot, the Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” and “Blinding Lights” followed at Nos. 5-6, with residual love from his Super Bowl appearance.
On the Rolling Stone album chart, it was business as usual at the top for Morgan Wallen‘s “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which is spending a remarkable sixth week at the top despite the country star being MIA on country radio after his N-word scandal.
Wallen’s album came in on top with 86,900 album units, down from XX last week. Song streams for the album’s tracks amounted to 95.7 million, with full album sales at 7,800 for this frame and song sales at 18,600.
There were no albums debuting in the top 10. The biggest freshman bow of the week among albums came for Florida Georgia Line‘s “LIfe Rolls On,” rolling in at No. 19 with 19,300 album units. The country duo’s latest was not as big a starter as previous efforts, with 12.2 million streams for its individual songs being tallied up alongside 8,300 full album sales and 11.300 song sales.
The remainder of the top 10 albums list, after Wallen’s continued dominance, was filled out be Lil Durk, the Weeknd, Pop Smoke, Pooh Shiesty, Swift’s “Folklore,” Ariana Grande, Juice WRLD, Luke Combs and Swift’s “Folklore.”
Although interest in “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” was strong enough to push the original “Fearless” album back into the top 15, the 2008 version of “Love Story” does not appear on the top 100 of the Rolling Stone songs chart for the week.
See the entire album chart here. For the songs chart, click here.
