Taylor Swift Returns to No. 1 on Billboard Artist 100 for Record-Extending 58th Week
Written by djfrosty on December 29, 2022
Taylor Swift rebounds to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Dec. 31), spending a record-extending 58th week as the top musical act in the U.S. thanks to the continued success of her album Midnights.
Plus, RM re-enters the Artist 100 at No. 6, a new best for the BTS member as a soloist.
Swift’s Midnights ranks at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart with 155,000 equivalent album units earned in its ninth week (Dec. 16-22), according to Luminate. Of those nine weeks, five have been spent at No. 1, making it her sixth album to have five or more weeks at the summit. Swift is the only woman with as many as six albums that have reigned for five or more weeks, tying her with Garth Brooks for the second-most among all acts, since the chart became a combined stereo and mono survey in 1963. The Beatles lead with a whopping 14 No. 1s that ruled for five or more weeks each.
In total, Swift places eight albums on the latest Billboard 200, the most among all acts. After Midnights, she charts with Folklore (No. 39), Lover (No. 40), Evermore (No. 42), Red (Taylor’s Version) (No. 46), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (No. 80), 1989 (No. 105) and Reputation (No. 151).
Swift also charts two songs from Midnights on the Billboard Hot 100: former six-week No. 1 “Anti-Hero” at No. 9, followed by “Lavender Haze” at No. 67. As previously reported, “Anti-Hero” hits No. 1 on the Radio Songs chart, where Swift becomes the first artist with leaders in the 2000s, ’10s and ’20s, and the only act with No. 1s as a lead artist in any three distinct decades.
Plus, Swift has now spent eight total weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100 chart in 2022. As this is the last chart week dated in 2022, she and Bad Bunny tie for the most weeks logged at No. 1 this year. The Weeknd follows with six weeks on top this year, then Adele (four), Harry Styles (three), Beyoncé and Stray Kids (two apiece).
Elsewhere on the Artist 100, BTS’ RM re-enters at No. 6 — a new high — thanks to the CD release of his solo album Indigo. The set re-enters the Billboard 200 chart at a new No. 3 best (83,000 units) after debuting at No. 15 two weeks ago, when he first reached the Artist 100’s top 10 at No 8.
RM is the sixth BTS member to scale the Artist 100 solo, after Jung Kook (No. 47 peak, earlier in December), Jin (No. 10, November), J-Hope (No. 9, July), V (No. 57, January) and Suga (No. 57, December 2021, after he soared to No. 4, billed as Agust D, in 2020). BTS has spent 21 weeks at No. 1 on the Artist 100, the most among groups and the fourth-most overall after Swift, Drake (37) and The Weeknd (28), dating to the survey’s 2014 inception.
The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multidimensional ranking of artist popularity.