Fontaines D.C. reflect on unwanted chart battle with Taylor Swift

Fontaines D.C. have revealed they "didn't want" to battle with Taylor Swift for the No.1 spot in the UK Charts last year.

According to Contact Music, the members of the Irish post-punk band have reflected on the public chart battle that they had with Swift when they had released their second studio album, A Hero's Death, the same week as the American pop singer released her LP Folklore. She took the top spot in the UK chart rankings while Fontaines D.C. took the No. 2 spot.

"If someone would have told us we were going to be number two in the charts we would have been absolutely over the moon," says frontman Grian Chatten. "We didn't need to beat Taylor Swift for number one, we weren't dying for that, the only reason we would have wanted that number one is for the team that works around us, our management and stuff, it would have been really good for them as they put a lot of work into it."

Though the band has been successful ever since the release of their 2019 debut album Dogrel – which reached the ninth spot in the UK album charts – they find that they measure their success in other ways.

"Success is when you write a piece of music that has you skipping around your kitchen," says Chatten. "People wave compliments at you like finish lines. Adulation makes you feel like you're done. It's important not to listen to it."

For now, the band will continue to work on their upcoming third album, which they've previously teased at the 2021 BRITs, and prepare for their upcoming tour, which they've had to reschedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They will be playing in Belfast's Custom House Square on August 13.

Revisit the Hot Press album review of A Hero's Death and cover story featuring Fontaines D.C.