Thanks to a remarkable debut by Taylor Swift, she now has three albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. This includes “Folklore” at No. 3 for the available copies to secure the No. 3 spot for the week, along with “Midnights” at No. 4 and two other albums that Swift already had in the top 10. The vinyl-only Record Store Day exclusive, consisting of 75,000 double-LP releases, successfully sold out and joined the ranks of Swift’s other albums in the top 10. Additionally, Swift’s “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions” also remains in the top 10 of the Billboard 200.
As per Billboard, in 2016, three of Prince’s albums achieved a position in the top 10 after his demise, establishing Swift as the inaugural artist to accomplish this feat since that time. In 2012, Whitney Houston became the first female to achieve three albums in the top 10. It is also an uncommon achievement for a female artist.
It is possible that a few copies might have been accidentally taken or left behind in the retail store’s stockroom, which means that there are no more copies available for the long chart sessions. Luminate reported that the sales count is 75,000, and “Sessions Studio Pond Long The: Folklore” was only released in the U.S. On Record Store Day, April 22, in a limited quantity of 75,000. Swift won’t be scoring a three-peat on the next chart week.
The worldwide demand for the album was 115,000, leaving 40,000 copies to be sold internationally.
In a rather unusual case, the first time that the material had its own code to be tracked was when “Long Pond Studio Sessions” released as an exclusive LP for “Folklore”. Presumably, they will continue to be counted as separate tracks because they were part of the deluxe edition of the original album. That’s why the album has never charted as a separate entity until this week, even though “Long Pond Studio Sessions” for “Folklore” was digitally released late in 2020.
The album Swift just spent its first week there, only to become the 14th double LP release by Swift to enter the top 10 chart soon.
The album “Pond” Long, which was not allowed to be sold via the web, had very few copies in stock on the day following its release. Fans of Swift were able to obtain hundreds of copies of the exclusive LP at participating Day Store Record outlets, as soon as the doors opened. This caused panic among some fans, as some brick-and-mortar stores were quickly selling out of their stock.
The opportunity to purchase the limited edition single came into stock at many stores that held raffles. Only a single copy was pressed in a 7,000 edition, with the song “The Lakes” available in two different versions. In April 2022, when she released a 7-inch single, it was the only digital form of the song available. There was slightly less hype about getting the album compared to the previous Record Store Day, but it was still a sought-after item similar to something by Swift.
Additionally, the album has been recording some auction selling prices within the $90-100 range. While the majority of bids on eBay are still within the $100-150 range, prices have settled down more recently. After starting at around $50, prices soared to over $100 on resale websites where it was being marked up following the rapid sell-out of the RSD title.
The Long Pond Sessions is an unofficial soundtrack with the same name that debuted in 2020 on Disney+. The special edition LP was stickered with the streaming platform’s logo. The Long Pond Sessions is a studio recording where stripped-down versions of the same songs that appeared on “Folklore” were released and recorded in the first months of the pandemic, with collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner remotely working with Swift. Swift had a special meeting with co-producers and co-writer Antonoff and Dessner to do the studio recording.
Despite a slight slip, “Folklore” by Taylor Swift managed to reach 75,000 units in its 10th week, landing at the same position of No. 10 on the chart. The album, which includes a streaming formulation as part of its album-equivalent units, relied on “Long Pond” as the main driver for its success, with 62,000 units. Other statistics for Swift’s albums, such as “Midnights,” held the same position at No. 4.
With 140,000 units, 2 of which debuted under the stage name D Agust of the member BTS Suga’s plume de nom, and most of the units being attributable to streaming, they registered 149,000 units in the eighth straight week at the top. This surpasses the releases of Morgan Wallen’s “Dangerous: The Double Album” and “Studio Sessions” by One Thing at a Time, only surpassing The Long Pond Studio Sessions.
Swift had no problem claiming the title of the top-selling vinyl seller of the week, with her album selling 122,000 copies so far in 2023. She also had no problem claiming the top-selling title in digital or CD form, with sales of 75,000 copies in the same week.
The live album “Give Way” by Pearl Jam had a pressing of 15,500 copies, a larger amount than any other RSD 2023 titles that were reported. Most of the Record Store Day exclusive releases had less than 10,000 pressings. None of them were released in the United States.