The music of Taylor Swift rules Billboard’s main classical chart, as Vitamin String Quartet’s VSQ Performs Taylor Swift opens atop the Classical Albums survey dated May 18.
The 16-song set, originally released in February, enters atop the chart with 3,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. May 3-9, according to Luminate. Of that sum, nearly all is from vinyl sales, following the collection’s release on the format. The LP also opens at No. 15 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
VSQ Performs Taylor Swift encompasses Swift’s catalog from her 2008 album Fearless through 2022’s Midnights; a makeover of the latter’s “Anti-Hero” is the first track on the new release, while fellow Midnights reinterpretation “Snow on the Beach” is also among the tracklist.
Vitamin String Quartet achieves its first No. 1 on Classical Albums, among 10 entries. Here’s a recap of the act’s titles to have made the tally, spotlighting the group’s takes on songs by other high-profile pop stars (including Swift’s “Snow on the Beach” collaborator Lana Del Rey).
Peak Pos., Date, Title
- No. 8, August 2010, VSQ Performs Lady Gaga
- No. 10, May 2014, Vitamin String Quartet Performs Weezer’s Pinkerton
- No. 4, May 2016, Daft Punk’s Random Access Memory
- No. 10, May 2017, VSQ Performs Kanye West
- No. 13, December 2017, The World of Studio Ghibli
- No. 7, April 2019, VSQ Performs Bjork
- No. 9, November 2020, Vitamin String Quartet Performs Lana Del Rey
- No. 7, July 2021, VSQ Performs My Chemical Romance
- No. 8, May 2023, Ghost: VSQ Performs Death Cab for Cutie
- No. 1 (one week to date), May 2024, VSQ Performs Taylor Swift
VSQ Performs Taylor Swift concurrently becomes Vitamin String Quartet’s first No. 1 on the Classical Crossover Albums chart and the (recently expanded) Indie Store Album Sales ranking.
On May 13, Vitamin String Quartet, whose origins date to the late 1990s, announced its latest tour, a 43-date trek set to start Oct. 22 in Joliet, Ill., and run through Feb. 16, 2025, in Nashville.
