Taylor Swift has made UK Official Chart history this week as her rerecorded album Fearless (Taylor’s Version) lands at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart, surpassing a long-held chart record by The Beatles.
Swift has set a new all-time record for the fastest accumulation of three Number 1 albums ever. It is her third chart-topping album in the space of 259 days, following surprise releases Folklore in July and Evermore in December that has set the new record, according to the Official Charts Company. The record was previously held by The Beatles for 54 years who achieved a trio of chart-toppers in 364 days between 1965-1966, with Help!, Rubber Soul, and Revolver.
Home is where the is but God I the UK!!! https://t.co/OiPahpxcLK
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) April 16, 2021
The Fearless album was recorded following a high-profile row over the ownership of Swift’s master recordings with prominent talent manager and record executive Scooter Braun. Braun gained ownership of the superstar’s past music catalogue when he purchased her first label, Big Machine Records, in June 2019. In November 2020, Braun sold the rights to her first six albums to the private equity company Shamrock Holdings, in a deal said to be worth over $300 million, according to Variety. After the dispute, and the fact that Swift had not even had a chance to buy back her own works, the singer has planned to rerecord not only Fearless (2008) but also Taylor Swift (2006), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), and 1989 (2014).
In an interview with Billboard Swift explained “Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use ‘Shake It Off’ in some advertisement or ‘Blank Space’ in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it.”
Lover (2019) is Swift’s first album that she fully owns.
