Taylor Swift Passes 100 Career Hits on Hot Country Songs Chart, Nears Dolly Parton’s Record Among Women
Written by djfrosty on July 19, 2023
Taylor Swift soars past 100 career hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, thanks to 22 new entries – the entirety of her new album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). She’s just the second woman to achieve the milestone and now boasts 108 career entries on the ranking – just two away from Dolly Parton’s 110, the most among women.
As previously reported, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) launches at No. 1 on both the all-genre Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart (dated July 22). Released July 7, the set is the third of Swift’s planned six re-recorded albums.
Swift notched the first of her 108 Hot Country Songs entries on the chart dated July 1, 2006, when “Tim McGraw” debuted at the list’s No. 60 anchor spot. It became her first of 36 career top 10s, with eight having hit No. 1, from “Our Song” in 2007 through “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021. (She adds seven top 10s on the latest tally.)
Parton scored her first of 110 Hot Country Songs hits when “Dumb Blonde” debuted at No. 64 on the Jan. 21, 1967, chart, on its way to a No. 24 peak that March. She has earned 55 top 10s, including 25 No. 1s from “Joshua” in 1971 through her featured turn on Brad Paisley’s “When I Get Where I’m Going” in 2006.
Notably, Swift has swelled her count of Hot Country Songs hits this decade via multiple charted cuts each from her Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) releases. As streaming has surged, it has become common for high-profile artists to land numerous songs on charts, in a variety of genres, the week that their respective parent albums debut. In prior decades, artists and labels generally charted one promoted single, for several weeks, at a time.
Among all acts, the late George Jones has totaled the most Hot Country Songs entries – 159 – dating to when the chart became an all-encompassing genre survey in October 1958.
Meanwhile, both Swift and Parton appear in position to add to their sums of Hot Country Songs placements. Swift has yet to re-record her debut LP, the country-focused Taylor Swift, and Parton is prepping her 30-track Rockstar album, due Nov. 17.
If Swift claims top honors for the most Hot Country Songs hits among women, Parton would seemingly pass the torch gracefully to her successor. “Taylor, she’s a great writer,” Parton praised in early 2022. “She’s always had good taste in how she’s presented herself and with her songs. And she’s very creative and very, very, very smart in the marketing of her life. She knows who she is and what she wants. And I’m the same way. I’m going to fight if it goes against what I feel is not right for me.”