Taylor Swift’s second alternative-leaning album in five months crowns Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart, with Evermore bowing atop the survey dated Dec. 26.
The set, released Dec. 11, debuts with 329,000 equivalent album units earned in the Dec. 11-17 tracking week, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of that sum, 155,000 units are via album sales.
The album’s 167,000-unit streaming equivalent count, meanwhile, is the biggest for any entry on Alternative Albums since Swift’s prior LP Folklore accrued 218,000 units from streaming (and 847,000 units total) upon its debut on the Aug. 8-dated tally.
Speaking of Folklore, it’s No. 2 on the Dec. 26-dated Alternative Albums with 133,000 units, a 249% leap.
Concurrently, Evermore starts at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200, where it’s Swift’s eighth ruler, encompassing all her full-length releases dating to Fearless in 2008.
Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart is chock full of Swift material, with 14 of Evermore’s 15-song standard tracklist appearing (its entirety except for the country-leaning “No Body, No Crime,” featuring Haim). Lead single “Willow” paces the field, leaping to No. 1 in its second week on the list after debuting at No. 47 on the Dec. 19 ranking, where it began from its first three days of airplay. Swift scores her second No. 1 on the survey, following Folklore single “Cardigan,” which ruled for a week upon its debut (Aug. 8).
“Willow,” which starts at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, bows with 30 million U.S. streams, 12.3 million in all-format radio audience and 59,000 downloads sold.
The track is followed on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs by “Champagne Problems” at No. 3 (19.6 million streams, 3,000 sold). In all, seven of the chart’s top 10 belongs to Swift, one less than the one-week record… which is held by Swift, who possessed eight of the top 10 on the Aug. 8 list. (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs began in 2009.)
Swift occupies 22 of the latest chart’s 50 positions, thanks additionally to eight titles from Folklore remaining on the tally, led by “Exile,” featuring Bon Iver, at No. 21. That’s the second-most concurrent entries on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs in the ranking’s history, one less than Linkin Park, which logged 23 on the Aug. 12, 2017, survey following the death of singer Chester Bennington.
On the 25-position Hot Alternative Songs ranking, which began in June, Swift claims 16 spots (led by “Willow”), a record, besting Machine Gun Kelly’s 12 (Oct. 10).
“Willow” reigns on two other alternative surveys, crowning Alternative Streaming Songs and Alternative Digital Song Sales. It’s Swift’s second leader on both, following “Cardigan.”
