Taylor Swift Breaks Record, Becomes First Artist To Top All 10 Billboard Charts In the United States
Taylor Swift has made history by dominating the entire top 10 of the US singles chart. She now has more songs in the top 10 than Drake, who held nine in the previous record in September of 2021. Eight of the Beatles' songs from 1964 were top 10 hits before him.
Midnights, Swift's newest album, has been the year's best-selling record.
"10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES," the singer tweeted.
With the single Anti-Hero, the 32-year-old takes the top spot. "It's me. Hi! I'm the problem, it's me," "has rapidly become a trend throughout the Tik Tok community.
Lavender Haze, Maroon, Snow On The Beach, Bejeweled, and Karma are just a few of the album tracks that round out the top 10.
Except for Sam Smith's "Unholy" at number 11 and Steve Lacy's "Bad Habits" at number 12, all 13 songs on Midnights' standard edition make the top 15 of Billboard's Hot 100.
Between numbers 20 and 45 are the seven extra songs included in the special "3am edition" of Midnights.
Swift surprised her fans by announcing the album at the very end of the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, which took place in August in New Jersey. She has characterized the album as chronicling "13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life" and "a journey through terrors and sweet dreams."
After the indie-folk of Evermore and Folklore, both of which were released in 2020, the artist returns to the pop palette of her pre-pandemic albums. In contrast to chart-toppers like "Shake It Off" and "Lover," her late-night tales are rendered in more subdued tones and retain the mellow sounds of those albums.
The album's popularity can be attributed in part to its innovative marketing strategy, which saw it issued in a number of different collectible versions, such as four vinyl editions that, when put together, constitute a clock.
Even without sales or radio play, Billboard said that Swift would have dominated the Top 10 with just streams.
Midnights opened at number one on the US album chart, selling a total of 1.4 million copies, including over one million physical copies on CD and vinyl.
With sales of 204,000, the album is also number one on the UK album chart, becoming the first album to sell over 200,000 copies in the country in just under a year, when Adele's 30 did so.
Unexpectedly, the numbers mark Swift's best first-week sales in the UK. Her prior best was 2014's sales of 90,300 copies of her album 1989.
While she may have dominated the US singles chart, she will not be able to do so in the UK due to a regulation that limits an artist to have no more than three songs in the Top 100 at the same time.
If not for the rule, Swift would have had eight of the top 10 singles this week. Instead, she has to settle for the position of one (Anti-Hero), three (Lavender Haze) and four (Snow On The Beach).
Sam Smith's Unholy, the previous week's number one, nonetheless holds on at number two, preventing Swift from having a perfect week on the charts.
According to Billboard, Swift's current album contributed to her setting multiple records.
With 40 top 10 singles, she has passed Madonna and is now the female artist with the most in the chart's annals. She is second only to Drake, who has 59 top 10s, among all artists.
In addition, Midnights is the only album ever to produce ten top-ten hits. Swift also smashed the 24-hour streaming records for albums on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music.
Midnights broke the record for the highest weekly vinyl album sale in the 21st century with 62,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.