Taylor Swift blocks her new pal Paul McCartney from number-one spot on the chart

Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift, photographed in London on October 6th, 2020, by Mary McCartneyAfter interviewing each other for Rolling Stone, Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney are now pals — so much so that Taylor gave Paul a heads-up that she was releasing her surprise album, evermore, and even moved the date so as not to conflict with his new album.  But ironically, she still ended up keeping the former Beatle’s album from debuting at number one.

evermore is number-one on the Billboard album chart for a second week, forcing Paul’s album, McCartney III, to settle for a number-two debut.  The two albums were about 60,000 units apart in sales. According to Billboard, evermore’s sales were boosted by the fact that it just became available on CD December 18.

Still, Paul can take comfort in the fact that he’s now the only act ever to have a new album hit the top two in each of the last six decades.  Billboard notes that he did it eight times in the ’70s, and once each in the ’80s, ’90’s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s.  Meanwhile, in the U.K., McCartney III has become Paul’s first solo number-one album in 31 years.

By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

By ABC Audio on December 28, 2020

Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift, photographed in London on October 6th, 2020, by Mary McCartneyAfter interviewing each other for Rolling Stone, Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney are now pals — so much so that Taylor gave Paul a heads-up that she was releasing her surprise album, evermore, and even moved the date so as not to conflict with his new album.  But ironically, she still ended up keeping the former Beatle’s album from debuting at number one.

evermore is number-one on the Billboard album chart for a second week, forcing Paul’s album, McCartney III, to settle for a number-two debut.  The two albums were about 60,000 units apart in sales. According to Billboard, evermore’s sales were boosted by the fact that it just became available on CD December 18.

Still, Paul can take comfort in the fact that he’s now the only act ever to have a new album hit the top two in each of the last six decades.  Billboard notes that he did it eight times in the ’70s, and once each in the ’80s, ’90’s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s.  Meanwhile, in the U.K., McCartney III has become Paul’s first solo number-one album in 31 years.

By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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