Metal Icon Taylor Swift Has Topped the Alternative Rock Songs Chart

Folklore? More like Folkcore.

When one thinks of alternative rock, one might imagine, say, Radiohead, or Tame Impala, or Arcade Fire, or, literally, some kind of unconventional rock formation, before one lands on Taylor Swift.

That ends today.

For the first time in her illustrious career, Swift has topped the Alternative Rock Songs chart on iTunes, proving, once and for all, that absolutely no one in the game goes harder. Hmm, maybe she was a Satanist all along!

The lead single off her surprise new album folklore, "Cardigan", holds the top spot as of this writing in the United States. Try not to thrash too hard while listening to it below.

Meanwhile, "cardigan" is in third place here in Australia on the iTunes Alternative chart, beneath "exile". In fourth place down under is "the 1". However, the iTunes charts are pretty fluid, changing from moment to moment. The real test is whether or not the songs make the Billboard and ARIA charts in the US and Australia, respectively. (Of course they will, who are we kidding?)

Though her previous chart successes have been in the country, folk and pop categories, her presence in the Alternative Rock category isn’t so shocking. After all, her collaborators on the record including Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who was nominated for the Best Alternative music Grammy earlier this year and won the prize back in 2012, and Aaron Dessner, whose band The National also picked up the Grammy in 2018 after losing in 2014. And for 2019’s "Cruel Summer", Swift teamed up with St. Vincent, who has been nominated twice and won the category once before.

This means you can probably expect to see Swift facing off against these Alt-Rock heroes in 2021.

Now, put on your fave cardigan and let’s rock.

Header Image: YouTube (Taylor Swift VEVO) & Turgay Malikli via Getty Images