After Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) scored the biggest debut of any album so far in 2021 upon its release last month, the re-recorded version of her 2008 sophomore album remains in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart. Meanwhile, we can keep tracking how the new version of Fearless has impacted the old version of Fearless, in terms of weekly listenership.
In its third week on the Billboard 200, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) slips to No. 9, after previously debuting atop the chart and sliding to No. 2 on last week’s tally. The re-recorded album earned 33,000 equivalent album units on the chart dated May 8, according to MRC Data, down from 57,000 equivalent album units the previous week.
By comparison, the original Fearless earned 5,000 equivalent album units on the chart dated May 8, which was steady with its total from the previous week. Here’s a visual comparison of how Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Fearless have performed over the past three chart weeks, in equivalent album units:
As previously noted, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) has the benefit of new fan interest compared to the original Fearless, which won Swift her first album of the year Grammy of the three she has earned over the course of her career. Also, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) has six additional “From The Vault” tracks that count toward its equivalent album unit numbers.
Although all of the “From The Vault” songs have fallen off the Hot 100 chart as of this week, “Willow” — Swift’s latest No. 1 single, from last year’s Evermore album — comes in at No. 61 on this week’s tally. Swift has told fans that she is already hard at work on her next re-recorded album, after announcing plans in 2019 to re-record her first six full-lengths.
