NEW YORK • In April, as the coronavirus pandemic brought the concert industry to a halt, American pop star Taylor Swift cancelled all her tour dates for the year.

"I'm so sad I won't be able to see you guys in concert this year, but I know this is the right decision," she wrote on Twitter, giving her fans no indication that they would see her again, in any form, until next year.

Three months later, the 30-year-old singer emerged from quarantine with Folklore, a classic surprise release that has dominated the Billboard album chart this summer.

Now, it is in its sixth week at No. 1, the longest streak at the top of the chart for any album since Canadian rapper Drake's Views four years ago.

In its sixth week out, Folklore has the equivalent of 90,000 album sales in the United States, including streams as well as copies sold as a complete package.

After selling 17 physical versions of the album through her website for the first two weeks, Swift has lately been surprising fans by sending autographed copies of the CD to indie record stores.

In the US, Folklore has sold 860,000 copies of its complete album version - counting downloads as well as its various physical versions - and nearly 700 million streams.

Around the world, the album is "nearing" two billion streams, said Swift's label, Republic, a division of the giant Universal Music Group.

Also this week, heavy metal band Metallica opened at No. 4 with S&M2, a live album recorded with the San Francisco Symphony; and singer Katy Perry's new album, Smile, started at No. 5.

Two posthumous rap albums held their positions just below Folklore: Pop Smoke's Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon was No. 2 and Juice WRLD's Legends Never Die was No. 3.

NYTIMES