Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ Debuts Atop Both Billboard Global Charts
Written by djfrosty on October 31, 2022
Taylor Swift‘s “Anti-Hero” soars in at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts.
Swift claims nine of the top 10 spots on the Global 200 and eight of the top 10 on Global Excl. U.S. – both weekly-best shares in the chart’s two-year archives – all from her new album Midnights. Released Oct. 21, the set bounds in at No. 1 on the U.S.-based Billboard 200 albums chart with the biggest week for any release in seven years.
Especially notably, Swift boasts the entire top five on the Global 200, becoming the first artist to monopolize the region.
The two charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Billboard Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S.
Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
No Problem: ‘Anti-Hero’ Debuts at No. 1 on Global 200
“Anti-Hero” premieres at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200, as Swift becomes the first artist to chart the entire top five in a single week. She also claims a weekly-record nine of the top 10 spots (besting Drake’s eight on the Sept. 18, 2021, ranking).
Here’s a rundown of Swift’s songs in the latest Global 200’s top five, with their streams and download sales worldwide in the Oct. 21-27 tracking week:
Rank, Title: Global Streams / Sales:
No. 1, “Anti-Hero”: 141.9 million streams / 20,700 sold
No. 2, “Lavender Haze”: 89.2 million / 4,600
No. 3, “Snow on the Beach,” feat. Lana Del Rey: 84.3 million / 4,700
No. 4, “Maroon”: 78.4 million / 4,300
No. 5, “Midnight Rain”: 78.5 million / 3,300
“Anti-Hero” sports the third-biggest global streaming week for a song in 2022, after the debut weeks of BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom” (212.1 million; Sept. 3) and “Shut Down” (152.8 million; Oct. 1).
“Anti-Hero” is Swift’s second Global 200 No. 1, dating to the chart’s 2020 start, after “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” began atop the Nov. 27, 2021, tally.
As for Swift’s other songs arriving in the Global 200’s top 10: “You’re on Your Own, Kid” (No. 7); “Bejeweled” (No. 8); “Vigilante Shit” (No. 9); and “Karma” (No. 10). Swift ups her career count to 13 top 10s on the chart, second only to Drake’s 19. Bad Bunny ranks third with 12.
The only other song in the Global 200’s top 10 this week? Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy,” which drops to No. 6 after four weeks at No. 1.
Meanwhile, Swift ends a record 35-week streak of songs by acts all from outside the U.S. topping the Global 200, a run that began in March and spanned seven titles and five countries.
Hi: ‘Anti-Hero’ Enters at No. 1 on Global Excl. U.S.
Swift’s “Anti-Hero” concurrently launches at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, with 83.3 million streams and 7,000 downloads sold in territories outside the U.S. in the Oct. 21-27 tracking week.
As on the Global 200, “Anti-Hero” is Swift’s second Global Excl. U.S. No. 1, dating to the chart’s 2020 inception, after “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” started atop the Nov. 27, 2021, list.
Swift tallies eight songs in the Global Excl. U.S. top 10, a new weekly record (surpassing Bad Bunny’s seven on the May 21 chart). She rounds out her haul with “Lavender Haze” (No. 3); “Snow on the Beach” (No. 4); “Midnight Rain” (No. 5); “Maroon” (No. 6); “You’re on Your Own, Kid” (No. 8); “Bejeweled” (No. 9); and “Vigilante Shit” (No. 10). Swift has now scored 10 top 10s on the chart, the second-most, tied with BTS, after Drake’s 12.
Elsewhere in the Global Excl. U.S. top 10, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” dips to No. 2 after four weeks at No. 1 and David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s “I’m Good (Blue)” falls to No. 7 from its No. 2 high.
Similar to the Global 200, Swift stops a record run of 33 consecutive weeks of No. 1s by acts from outside the U.S., covering nine titles and six countries.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Nov. 5, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Nov. 1). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard‘s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.