Tool's 'Fear Inoculum' is set to knock Taylor Swift's 'Lover' off the top of the charts - and her fans are losing their minds.

A few days ago, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Taylor Swift’s new album Lover landed at #1 on the Billboard album charts. It was Swift’s sixth #1 record, recording the biggest sales week of any album since her last album reputation was released back in 2017.

It was generally expected that she’d hold onto the #1 position for at least another week or two, but now she’s fighting a battle with an enemy most of her fans have never even heard of: Tool.

Tool’s Fear Inoculum is currently raking in big, big numbers in its first week, and it’s predicted to land album sales of up to 300,000 in the US (according to Forbes) which would put it comfortably in the #1 position ahead of Lover, which is expecting sales of 260,000 in its second week. Fear Inoculum is already ahead of Lover on the iTunes album charts in Australia and the US, with Lana Del Rey’s Norman Fucking Rockwell! coming in third.

Swift fans, most of them not being terribly familiar with the prog-metal strains of Tool, are now losing their minds over the prospect of Lover being knocked off the charts.

Keep streaming guys! This band Tool is dropping a new album after 13 years (lmao 13) is okey but.. We still have a chance! STREAM #Lover by Taylor Swift HARDER! Also YNTCD and Lover seems to doing well so.. We have work 💪 pic.twitter.com/tplJMRG4AO — AILIN BESHARA (@Dureza10Mohs) September 4, 2019

all the old ass 30+ year old men quoting and replying to this all mad… embarassing…….. go take care of ur wife or kids weirdo — 𝒜 (@eurodolI) August 30, 2019

Taylor Swift stans learning who Tool are because they’re currently selling more copies than “Lover” is really something special pic.twitter.com/k398YRDzvZ — Ryan Broderick (@broderick) September 4, 2019

Tool fans, meanwhile, are wasting no time in throwing shit at Taylor Swift fans.

It gives me hope for the world that @Tool is outselling @Taylor Swift https://t.co/KaEFfWXeHd — Ashley Ruth Conway (@1203Vesta) September 2, 2019

No we just have a good taste in music. Given you both are Taylor Swift fans I guess youre used to manufactured dog shit and wouldnt know what good music is even if it hit you in the face. — stanly jenkins (@imWolf988) August 31, 2019

Lana Del Rey fans are, presumably, just sitting back and smoking a cigarette in California. And the rest of us are just delighting in one of the most unlikely stan battles of recent years.

16 year old Taylor Swift fans who have no clue who Tool is freaking out that they’re gonna surpass her in sales (they will) is hilarious pic.twitter.com/TMj81gi6SQ — very angry Psycho wife(?) (@Uppercut_Slut) August 31, 2019

Taylor vs. Tool is the fight of the century. https://t.co/ffwnBylVBy — Rocked (@RockedNet) September 3, 2019

If you’re still making your mind up over which album to stream, have a read of our reviews of Fear Inoculum and Lover.

Jules LeFevre is Junkee’s Music Editor. Follow her on Twitter.