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She laid the groundwork and then, just like clockwork, the dominoes cascaded in a line. Taylor Swift took to social media on Monday (Oct. 31) to react to her record-setting domination of this week’s top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES,” the superstar tweeted along with the Billboard story breaking the historic news of her being the first artist to ever occupy every single spot in the top 10.
While Midnights‘ first single “Anti-Hero” rocketed to the top of the chart as Tay’s ninth career No. 1, the rest of the top 10 also contains, in order, “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” the Lana Del Rey-assisted “Snow on the Beach,” “Midnight Rain,” “Bejeweled,” “Question…?,” “You’re On Your Own, Kid,” “Karma” and “Vigilante Shit.”
But that’s not all: A bit further down the all-genre tally, Swift, in fact, charted all 20 tracks on Midnights (3am Edition) on the Hot 100, including standard album closer “Mastermind,” “Labyrinth” and “Sweet Nothing” at Nos. 13, 14 and 15.
Of the seven bonus tracks, fan-favorite highlight “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” landed highest at No. 20. The other six placements included “Bigger Than the Whole Sky” at No. 21, “The Great War” at No. 26, “Paris” at No. 32, “High Infidelity” at No. 33, “Glitch” at No. 41 and closing ballad “Dear Reader” rounding out the set at No. 45.
Midnights set plenty of other high-water marks for the icon’s already illustrious career, including being the first album to cross the million mark in its first week since her own reputation in 2017 and delivering the biggest first-week sales of any album in the seven years since Adele’s 25 was released in 2015.
Check out Taylor’s emotional reaction to making Billboard history below.
There might not be a clean sweep in the MLB World Series this week — not after the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros split the first two games of their best-of-seven matchup over the weekend — but there is one in the Billboard Hot 100‘s top 10. For the first time in the chart’s 64-plus-year history, all 10 spots in the chart’s highest tier belong to just one lead artist: Taylor Swift, who occupies the whole region with tracks from her new album, the Oct. 21-released Midnights.
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The records for most simultaneous top 10 hits and most top 10 hits off the same album had been set originally by such artists as The Beatles (all of the top five at once in 1964) and Michael Jackson (seven top 10 hits from Thriller from 1982-84). But both marks were broken last year by one of Swift’s primary rivals for 21st-century chart dominance: Drake commanded nine of the top 10 spots on the Hot 100 dated Sept. 18, 2021, with the release of his much-anticipated Certified Lover Boy album. Just a little over a year later, the two records now turn over to Swift — and this time, they can only ever be tied, never bettered.
The achievements are just two of many notched by Swift this week, as she also moved a staggering 1.578 million equivalent album units of Midnights, according to Luminate — the largest first-week number of her career, and second only to Adele’s 25 (3.38 million in 2015) for any artist in the streaming era, since the Billboard 200 switched from a pure sales to equivalent-album model in December 2014. That also includes 575,000 in vinyl sales, a number that triples the previous weekly record (set earlier this year by Harry Styles’ Harry’s House with 182,000).
How was Swift able to crash the charts in such historic fashion this week, 16 years into her professional career? Let’s examine some of the factors below.
1. The culmination of a quarter-decade’s good will and smart decisions. At the turn of the decade, Taylor Swift’s stats were still mighty, but trending in the wrong direction: reputation‘s first-week number of 1.238 million in 2017 represented a slight dip from the 1.287 million units moved by 1989 in its first week in 2014, while 2019’s Lover became her first album since 2008 sophomore set Fearless to miss the million mark, moving 867,000 units. (It was also her first album since 2010’s Speak Now not to generate a Hot 100 No. 1, with lead singles “ME!” and “You Need to Calm Down” both peaking at No. 2.) The sets drew mostly positive reviews, but neither was received as rapturously as 1989 or 2012’s Red.
Swift’s first release of the new decade, 2020’s surprise-announced indie-folk swerve Folklore, didn’t totally reverse these trends — its first-week number of 846,000 was slightly lower than Lover‘s — but it did alter her overall momentum, drawing her strongest reviews and fan response since 1989 (as well as her first album of the year Grammy win since that set). Evermore, released later that year as something of a complement to Folklore, drew much smaller numbers of 329,000 but also positive reviews and another AOTY nod — and the twin LPs proved enduring, topping the Billboard 200 albums chart for a combined 12 weeks, where Lover reigned for just its debut week. (Both also produced Hot 100 No. 1s, in “Cardigan” and “Willow,” respectively.)
Then in 2021, Swift further gratified fans with the first two releases from her long-promised Taylor’s Version series, re-recording her first six studio albums in order to claim full ownership over them. While the project initially seemed to have limited commercial potential, Swift turned the releases into nostalgia bombs, not only fascinating fans with the re-recorded soundalikes of tracks from Fearless and Red, but also revisiting previously unearthed rarities and gems; most notably, her 10-minute version of fan favorite deep cut “All Too Well” not only became one of 2021’s most critically celebrated releases but even debuted atop the Hot 100. Consequently, the albums became mini-blockbusters all over again: Red (Taylor’s Version) debuted with 605,000 first-week units, better than the first week of any original album in 2021 outside of Certified Lover Boy and Adele’s 30.
And all of this 2020s success (Swift was even picked by the Billboard editorial staff as the Greatest Pop Star of 2021) had come without her releasing a proper new album in the mainstream pop mode fans had long expected from her. So when that finally did come this month, in the form of the Midnights album — harkening back to the alt-leaning synth-pop sound cultivated by Swift (and regular collaborators like writer/producer Jack Antonoff) from 1989 to Lover — it exploded with the anticipation built up over two and a half years’ worth of well-received detours, almost as if this was her first official LP release of the decade.
2. The perfect balance of surprise and hype. Swift’s last decade has been a fascinating case study in the benefits and drawbacks of the traditional extended rollout versus the newer-model sneak-release. Part of the reason that 2020’s Folklore announcement came as such a shock to the industry was that Swift had previously been such a staunch supporter of the months-long lead-up to an album, with a traditional lead single and music video, a blitz of public appearances and award show performances, and enough headlines to ensure everyone in the world knew she had a new album imminent. But when that approach backfired somewhat with the lukewarmly received lead single to Lover (the bombastic, Brendon Urie-featuring “ME!”) and the old-school media onslaught making her look slightly out of touch with the pace of pop in the streaming age, it was pretty clear something had to change.
But rather than keep with the Folklore and Evermore approach of only announcing her new albums the week of release, Swift split the difference with her Midnights drop. She announced the album months in advance, at August’s MTV Video Music Awards — where, incidentally, she also picked up three awards (including video of the year) for her “All Too Well (The Short Film)” — but never released an advance single for it. Instead, she unveiled other elements from the album: themes, images, song titles, treating each morsel of new information like a piece of the puzzle that would eventually be revealed in full with the LP’s release. And once the album did drop, she kept one more major surprise in reserve: the album’s 3am Edition, a pack of seven extra songs to further delight ravenous fans (and boost streaming totals).
The end result was a masterful balancing act between the strategies of Old Taylor and New Taylor, hyping the album with enough advance notice to get the music world raring for its release — and to properly prep the kind of physical volume of vinyl and CDs necessary to produce these kinds of blockbuster sales numbers — while also keeping enough secrets about it hidden to maintain the mystery, and not overwhelming prospective listeners before they even got a chance to hit play.
3. The unavoidable first single. Though she may be a singer-songwriter at heart, Taylor Swift is also a savvy enough pop star to know that no matter how much critical acclaim you amass, no matter how coherent your albums are as full-length statements, and no matter how much general good will you can claim as an artist — if you wanna stay a true pop star, every once in a while you gotta give the people an undeniably killer pop single. (Just ask Beyoncé.)
Swift didn’t lead Midnights with an advance single this time out, but it was still very clear within the first day of the album’s release what the first hit from it was going to be. “Anti-Hero” not only came with its own ambitious music video, Thursday Night Football promo and TikTok-geared #TSAntiHeroChallenge, but with a wallop of a chorus whose meme potential was unmistakable from first listen: “It’s me, hi/ I’m the problem, it’s me.” “Anti-Hero” was immediately and equally embraced by the internet and by pop radio — becoming ubiquitous in references on Twitter and Instagram and debuting at No. 13 on Billboard‘s Radio Songs tally this week, her highest-ever entrance on the chart.
It’s no surprise that “Anti-Hero” is the top debut from Midnights on the Hot 100 this week, but it also played a part in the rest of Swift’s chart dominance by doing the things that huge lead singles are supposed to do: Worming its way into all facets of pop culture, getting irremovably stuck in your head, and making sure that even your great aunts and uncles know that Taylor Swift Is Back.
4. The era advantages. As we did with Drake’s 2021 takeover, it’s important to point out that while Swift’s chart impact this week is jaw-dropping, it doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s actually more popular than The Beatles or Michael Jackson were at their peaks. Rather, she has advantages built-in to competing on the charts in 2022 that those pop icons simply didn’t at their respective commercial peaks, back when songs needed to be specifically released and promoted as singles to even be eligible for the Hot 100. Those rules were eliminated in 1998, but it wasn’t until the rise of iTunes the next decade — and even more so, the beginning of streaming in the 2010s — that an album’s tracks could be consumed individually enough for it to potentially chart every song at once in its first week.
And what’s more, as popular music continues to get more and more diffuse, megastars like Swift and Drake have a greater opportunity every year to monopolize the top tier of charts like the Hot 100. The primary competition for the 13 tracks on Midnights this week came via Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” and Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” two viral tracks from artists with little recent Hot 100 success — only Smith has any real history there, and they hadn’t scored higher than No. 39 with a single this decade — and whose peaks at radio, streaming and sales are unlikely to totally overlap. As the annual volume of four-quadrant smashes produced in pop keeps dwindling, it only gets easier for an artist of Swift’s size and reach to just come in and immediately command the whole room.
5. The last-second push. Of course, it also never hurts to give a couple of your tracks a little bit of an extra boost, as Swift did on Thursday (Oct. 27) — the last day of the tracking week — by making the original and instrumental versions of “Bejeweled” and “Question…?” available on her webstore for 69 cents. The move helped the two songs become two of the set’s best-sellers for the week (“Question…?” leads this week’s entire Digital Song Sales chart), and further helped ensure the top 10 Hot 100 placement for both songs, which rank at No. 6 and No. 7 this week, respectively — though indeed, streams for Swift’s songs in the Hot 100’s top 10 ended up being strong enough that all 10 tracks would’ve ranked in the region even without any chart points from sales or radio airplay.
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 soldNo. 2, “Lavender Haze”: 89.2 million / 4,600No. 3, “Snow on the Beach,” feat. Lana Del Rey: 84.3 million / 4,700No. 4, “Maroon”: 78.4 million / 4,300No. 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.
From Michael Jackson to Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and more, here are all the singles that have debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber & Taylor Swift
Getty Images; Design by Jessica Xie
From Michael Jackson, to Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and more, here are all the singles that have debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Taylor Swift scores an explosive week on the latest, Nov. 5, 2022-dated Billboard charts.
Following the Oct. 21 release of her latest studio album Midnights, Swift makes history as the first artist in the Billboard Hot 100’s 64-year history to occupy the entire top 10 in a single week. She also passes Madonna for the most top 10 hits among women (40).
Midnights opens as Swift’s 11th No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as it soars in with 1.578 million equivalent album units earned in the Oct. 21-27 tracking week, according to Luminate. The set sports the largest one-week total since the debut week of Adele’s 25 (3.482 million) on the chart dated Dec. 12, 2015.
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Midnights is already the top-selling album of 2022, with 1.140 million copies sold in its first week. It also shatters the record for the biggest vinyl week – 575,000 copies sold on vinyl – since Luminate began tracking vinyl sales in 1991.
Here’s a recap of where all 20 songs from Midnights – 13 from the set’s original version and seven more from its “3am Edition” – launch on the Hot 100:
Rank, Title:No. 1, “Anti-Hero”No. 2, “Lavender Haze”No. 3, “Maroon”No. 4, “Snow on the Beach,” feat. Lana Del ReyNo. 5, “Midnight Rain”No. 6, “Bejeweled”No. 7, “Question…?”No. 8, “You’re on Your Own, Kid”No. 9, “Karma”No. 10, “Vigilante Shit”No. 13, “Mastermind”No. 14, “Labyrinth”No. 15, “Sweet Nothing”No. 20, “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve”No. 21, “Bigger Than the Whole Sky”No. 26, “The Great War”No. 32, “Paris”No. 33, “High Infidelity”No. 41, “Glitch”No. 45, “Dear Reader”
With 20 debuts, Swift ups her career total to 188 charted Hot 100 songs, passing Lil Wayne for the third-most, after Drake (278) and the Glee Cast (207).
Swift also brings her career totals to 24 top five Hot 100 hits (tying Janet Jackson for the fifth-most); 40 top 10s (the second-most after Drake’s 59); 67 top 20 hits (also the second-most after Drake’s 100); and 104 top 40 hits (likewise the second-most after Drake’s 158).
This week marks the 15th frame in which an artist has landed at least 20 songs on the Hot 100, and Swift’s second. Here’s a look at every such occurrence:
Most Concurrent Hot 100-Charting Songs:27, Drake, July 14, 201826, Taylor Swift, Nov. 27, 202125, Lil Baby, Oct. 29, 202224, Drake, July 21, 201824, Drake, April 8, 201723, Kanye West, Sept. 11, 202122, Bad Bunny, May 21, 202222, Lil Uzi Vert, March 28, 202022, Lil Wayne, Oct. 13, 201821, Drake, Sept. 18, 202121, Drake, April 15, 201720, Taylor Swift, Nov. 5, 202220, Bad Bunny, May 28, 202220, Lil Uzi Vert, March 21, 202020, Drake, May 21, 2016
Further, thanks to Midnights and “Anti-Hero,” Swift is now the first artist to debut atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously on four separate occasions. She became the first to achieve such a double-up with Folklore and “Cardigan” in August 2020 and repeated the feat with Evermore and “Willow” in December 2020 and Red (Taylor’s Version) and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” in November 2021.
Taylor Swift scores one of the most historic weeks in the 64-year history of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, as she becomes the first artist to claim the survey’s entire top 10 in a single frame.
Swift surpasses Drake, who logged nine of the Hot 100’s top 10 for a week in September 2021.
Leading the way for Swift on the Hot 100, “Anti-Hero” launches at No. 1, marking her ninth career leader.
All 10 songs in the Hot 100’s top tier are from Swift’s new LP Midnights, which, released Oct. 21 on Republic Records, blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the biggest week for any release in seven years.
Swift also surges past Drake and The Beatles for the most titles from the top of the Hot 100 in a single week, as her monopoly of the top 10 bests those acts, each of whom infused the top five for a week each in 2021 and 1964, respectively.
Meanwhile, as Swift adds 10 new Hot 100 top 10s, she now boasts the most top 10s among women in the chart’s history, with 40 (surpassing Madonna’s 38). Among all acts, she trails only Drake (59 top 10s).
Plus, Midnights becomes the first album ever with as many as 10 Hot 100 top 10s, besting the nine from Drake’s Certified Lover Boy in 2021.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Nov. 5, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Nov. 1). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Here’s a rundown of Swift’s unprecedented week on the Hot 100.
Top 10: Streams, Airplay & Sales
As Swift swoops in with a clean sweep of the Hot 100’s top 10, here’s a look at the songs’ official streams, radio airplay and sales in the U.S. in the Oct. 21-27 tracking week that drove their chart debuts:
Rank, Title: Streams / Airplay Audience / Sales:No. 1, “Anti-Hero”: 59.7 million streams / 32 million in airplay audience / 13,500 soldNo. 2, “Lavender Haze”: 41.4 million / 2.4 million / 2,800No. 3, “Maroon”: 37.6 million / 471,000 / 2,900No. 4, “Snow on the Beach,“ feat. Lana Del Rey: 37.2 million / 615,000 / 2,600No. 5, “Midnight Rain”: 36.9 million / 449,000 / 2,200No. 6, “Bejeweled”: 35.5 million / 1.6 million / 16,100No. 7, “Question…?”: 31 million / 425,000 / 21,400No. 8, “You’re on Your Own, Kid”: 34.1 million / 498,000 / 1,500No. 9, “Karma”: 33 million / 1.9 million / 3,400No. 10, “Vigilante Shit”: 32.2 million / 424,000 / 6,400
With her total takeover of the Hot 100’s top 10 (with assistance from Lana Del Rey at No. 4), Swift passes Drake, who claimed nine of the top 10 (all except for No. 6) on the chart dated Sept. 18, 2021, when nine songs, all from his album Certified Lover Boy, bounded into the region, led by “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug, at No .1, as the set opened atop the Billboard 200.
Meanwhile, Swift passes Drake and The Beatles for the most titles from the top of the Hot 100 in a single week. Before Drake’s top five tally on Sept. 18, 2021, The Beatles held Nos. 1-5 on the chart dated April 4, 1964.
Swift’s Nine Hot 100 No. 1s
Here’s a recap of Swift’s nine Hot 100 No. 1s, notched over a span of just over 10 years:
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” three weeks at No. 1, beginning Sept. 1, 2012“Shake It Off,” four weeks, beginning Sept. 6, 2014“Blank Space,” seven weeks, beginning Nov. 29, 2014“Bad Blood,” feat. Kendrick Lamar, one week, June 6, 2015“Look What You Made Me Do,” three weeks, beginning Sept. 16, 2017“Cardigan,” one week, Aug. 8, 2020“Willow,” one week, Dec. 26, 2020“All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” one week, Nov. 27, 2021“Anti-Hero,” one week to-date, Nov. 5, 2022
Swift becomes one of 16 acts with nine or more Hot 100 No. 1s, and one of seven solo women, joining Mariah Carey (19), Rihanna (14), Madonna (12), Whitney Houston (11), Janet Jackson (10) and Katy Perry (nine). The Beatles lead all acts with 20 Hot 100 No. 1s.
Swift’s Fifth No. 1 Hot 100 Debut
Swift debuts atop the Hot 100 with a fifth title, as “Anti-Hero” (the 64th single to enter at No. 1) follows the chart-topping premieres of “Shake It Off,” “Cardigan,” “Willow” and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).” With her latest, she ties Ariana Grande for the most No. 1 entrances among women.
Overall, Drake leads with seven No. 1 Hot 100 debuts, followed by BTS, Grande, Swift (five each) and Justin Bieber (four).
Record-Extending Simultaneous Billboard 200 & Hot 100 debuts
Thanks to Midnights and “Anti-Hero,” Swift is the first artist to have debuted atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously as many as four times. (The Billboard 200 began on March 24, 1956, and the Hot 100, on Aug. 4, 1958.)
Swift became the first act to launch with such a double when Folklore and “Cardigan” began atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, respectively, on Aug. 8, 2020. She repeated the feat with Evermore and “Willow” (Dec. 26, 2020) and Red (Taylor’s Version) and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” (Nov. 27, 2021).
Drake, with two, is the only other act with multiple such simultaneous starts on the surveys.
Top 10 Streamed, Sold Songs Are by Swift
As on the Hot 100, Swift holds the entire top 10 on Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales charts. Swift is the first artist to triple up with the top 10 on all three charts simultaneously; no other act had previously claimed Nos. 1-10 in a single week on the Hot 100 or Digital Song Sales, while only Drake had swept the tier on Streaming Songs (Sept. 18, 2021).
“Anti-Hero” debuts at No. 1 on Streaming Songs with the biggest streaming week for a song (59.7 million) in 2022, passing Jack Harlow’s “First Class” (54.6 million; April 23). No song has logged more weekly streams since Drake’s “Way 2 Sexy” soared in with 67.3 million (Sept. 18, 2021).
Swift adds her sixth Streaming Songs No. 1, tying Bieber for the second-most, after Drake’s 14.
On Digital Song Sales, Swift’s “Question…?” debuts at No. 1, marking her record-extending 24th leader. (Rihanna ranks second with 14.) Helping its coronation, “Question…?” was made available for sale in Swift’s webstore on the last day of the chart’s tracking week (Oct. 27) in its original and instrumental form, each for 69 cents, as was “Bejeweled,” new at No. 4 on Digital Song Sales.
Notably, the streams for Swift’s songs in the Hot 100’s top 10 were strong enough that all 10 tracks would’ve ranked in the region even without any chart points from sales or radio airplay.
‘Anti-Hero’ Roars at Radio
Speaking of radio reach, “Anti-Hero,” the first promoted single from Midnights, debuts at No. 13 on Radio Songs, the highest debut this year and Swift’s best opening rank among 45 career entries.
The song concurrently places at No. 11 on the Adult Pop Airplay chart, No. 13 on Adult Contemporary and No. 16 on Pop Airplay following its first full week of availability.
Swift Up to 40 Hot 100 Top 10s, the Most Among Women
By instantly adding 10 Hot 100 top 10s, Swift now sports the second-most, 40, in the chart’s history. Previously tied with Michael Jackson, Swift leapfrogs Madonna – as she now claims the most top 10s among women – The Beatles and Rihanna.
Swift first hit the Hot 100’s top 10 with “Love Story” on the chart dated Oct. 4, 2008.
Most Billboard Hot 100 Top 10s:59, Drake40, Taylor Swift38, Madonna34, The Beatles31, Rihanna30, Michael Jackson29, Elton John28, Mariah Carey28, Stevie Wonder27, Janet Jackson26, Justin Bieber25, Lil Wayne25, Elvis Presley (with the start of Presley’s career having predated the Hot 100’s inception)
Similar to Swift’s timeline, Drake earned the first of his record 59 top 10s in July 2009 and most recently ranked in the bracket this August.
Midnights Clocks Most Hot 100 Top 10s From an Album
Upon its chart start, Swift’s Midnights becomes the first album to generate as many as 10 Hot 100 top 10s. It passes Drake’s Certified Lover Boy, which landed nine, likewise all in the same week (Sept. 18, 2021) that the set started atop the Billboard 200.
Swift previously ran up a personal-best five Hot 100 top 10s from an album, via 1989 in 2014-15.
Janet Jackson leads with three albums that have each yielded at least five Hot 100 top 10s, while Drake and now Swift are the only acts with at least two such sets. (Jackson plays into the success of Midnights: “Snow on the Beach” includes the lyric: “I’m all for you like Janet.”)
Swift’s No. 1s as a Writer, Producer
Swift co-wrote and co-produced “Anti-Hero” with Jack Antonoff.
Swift has co-written all nine of her Hot 100 No. 1s. She has co-produced three of her leaders, as “Anti-Hero” follows “Look What You Made Me Do” and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”
Antonoff achieves his third Hot 100 No. 1 as a co-writer, after “Look What You Made Me Do” and “We Are Young,” featuring Janelle Monae; the latter led for six weeks in 2012 for fun. (comprising, Antonoff, Andrew Dost and Nate Ruess). Antonoff also adds his third No. 1 as a producer, all tallied with Swift, after “Look What You Made Me Do” and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”
Autumn Happiness: Del Rey’s Best Rank
As “Snow on the Beach” debuts at No. 4 on the Hot 100, Lana Del Rey, featured on the song (which she co-wrote with Swift and Antonoff), lands her highest Hot 100 placement. She scored one prior top 10: “Summertime Sadness,” with Cedric Gervais, hit No. 6 in September 2013.
‘Hero’-ic Hits
“Anti-Hero” is the third Hot 100 No. 1 with “hero” in its title, and the first since Mariah Carey’s “Hero” in 1993-94.
Here’s a look at the highest-charting such Hot 100 hits:No. 1 (one week to-date), “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift, 2022No. 1 (four), “Hero,” Mariah Carey, 1993-94No. 1 (two), “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero,” Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, 1974No. 2, “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome),” Tina Turner, 1985No. 2, “Theme From ‘Greatest American Hero’ (Believe It or Not),” Joey Scarbury, 1981No. 3, “Hero,” Chad Kroeger feat. Josey Scott, 2002No. 3, “Hero,” Enrique Iglesias, 2001
As Swift dominates the Hot 100’s top 10, Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” falls to No. 11, a week after it ascended to the summit. It was the most-streamed (24.3 million, down 4%) and top-selling song (11,300, down 40%) not by Swift in the tracking week, while boasting a 23% gain to 26.7 million in radio audience.
Steve Lacy’s fellow former Hot 100 leader “Bad Habits” drops from No. 2 to No. 12, followed by three more Swift songs – as the entirety of Midnights‘ 13-song standard edition debuts in the top 15. “Mastermind” begins at No. 13, “Labyrinth” enters at No. 14 and “Sweet Nothing” starts at No. 15.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Nov. 5), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Nov. 1).
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.
Rihanna ended her years-long music drought last week with the release of “Lift Me Up.” When the next U.K. chart is published, the pop superstar could be rewarded with a crown.
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The Barbadian singer is flying with “Lift Me Up,” which will appear in the upcoming Marvel film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Based on sales and streaming data from the first 48 hours in the chart cycle, “Life Me Up” is the No. 2-ranked song. The leader in the early stages is Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” which bowed at No. 1 last Friday (Oct. 28) for TayTay’s second U.K. chart leader.
According to the Official Charts Company, the race to No. 1 is “incredibly close,” with former leader “Unholy,” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, at No. 3 on the First Look survey.
Heading into the second half of the week, less than 300 chart sales separate the top three.
If “Lift Me Up” does indeed lift to the top it would be Rihanna’s 10th U.K. No. 1, and first since 2017’s “Wild Thoughts,” with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller. It will, almost certainly, give RiRi her 31st U.K. top 10 appearance.
Elsewhere on the chart blast, several tracks eye new peaks inside the U.K. top 10 — Oliver Tree and Robin Schulz’s “Miss You,” and Stormzy’s “Hide & Seek” (No. 6), while Venbee & Goddard are chasing a first appearance in the top flight with “Messy In Heaven” (No. 10).
SZA’s own comeback track, “Shirt,” could wear a top 20 debut. It’s on target for a No. 15 start.
Finally, Meghan Trainor “Made You Look” is the biggest gainer on the chart blast, the OCC reports, up 28-18.
All will be revealed when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published this Friday.
It’s a Taylor Swift takeover on the U.K. charts, as Midnights (via EMI) clocks up exceptional first-week numbers for her 10th No. 1.
Midnights and Arctic Monkeys The Car (Domino Recordings) fought an epic battle which, at the midnight point, saw both LPs surge past 100,000 chart sales.
There could be only one winner. Midnights made it a win for the ages and a personal best for TayTay.
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According to data published by the Official Charts Company, Midnights notches 204,000 U.K. chart sales, a volume that’s more than double her previous personal best of 90,300, for 2014’s 1989.
The first week tally for Midnights easily beats the previous best for 2022, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, which accumulated 113,000 chart sales, and it’s the best first-week result for any title since Adele’s 30 raked-up 261,000 chart sales in November 2021.
Midnights was a streaming juggernaut too, racking up 72.5 million streams in its first seven days. That too is a year-best, overhauling the 53.9 million U.K. week-one streams for Harry’s House.
Swift now moves up the all-time leaderboard. With nine consecutive U.K. No. 1 albums, she overtakes Madonna to set a new chart record, by doing so in faster succession than any female artist, the OCC reports.
It took Swift just 10 years to achieve the feat, the time between her first leader with Red, in October 2012, and now Midnights, whereas Madonna took 21 years to reach double digits. The boss in that particular frame is the Beatles, with, nine chart leaders in just 5 years and 7 months, the time between the release of their debut album Please Please Me in May 1963 and The White Album in December 1968.
Also, Swift overtakes Kylie Minogue for outright second place in the list of female artists with the most U.K. No. 1 albums. Madonna leads that ranking, with 12. And Taylor extends her lead as the female solo artist with the highest tally of No. 1 albums this century.
With Midnights and “Anti-Hero” debuting at No. 1 on the respective charts, Swift becomes the first female artist to complete the chart double in nine years (Miley Cyrus was the last to do it, in August 2013).
Arctic Monkeys’ streak of six U.K. No. 1s comes to a screeching halt, thanks to Midnights. The Sheffield, England rockers’ latest album The Car revs up for 100,000-plus first week combined sales, an effort that would easily land the chart crown on most weeks.
Coming in at No. 3 on the fresh chart, published Oct. 28, is South London rapper Loyle Carner with Hugo (EMI), new at No. 3 for an equal career high.
Scottish ‘80s new wave legends Simple Minds start at No. 4 with Direction of the Heart (BMG), their 12th top 10 appearance; Kylie’s Impossible Princess (BMG) enjoys a return to the chart and a new peak position following its 25th anniversary reissue. Impossible Princess pushes to No. 5, surpassing its peak position of No. 10 in 1998.
Finally, alternative-rock outfit Dry Cleaning start at No. 11 with their sophomore album Stumpwork (4AD), while Norwegian ‘80s pop trio a-ha earn a No. 12 debut with True North (Music For Nations).
It’s Taylor Swift time on the U.K. charts, as the pop superstar bags a rare chart double.
Following the release of her album Midnights (via EMI), Swift cleans up on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, bagging the No. 1 with “Anti-Hero,” and respectively taking out positions 3 and 4 with “Lavender Haze” and “Snow On The Beach,” featuring Lana Del Rey.
“Anti-Hero,” which Swift has said described as “one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” is also a favorite among Brits, as it becomes just her second U.K. chart-leader following 2017’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”
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With Midnights also rocketing to No. 1, Swift becomes the first female artist in nine years to simultaneously debut atop the Official Albums and Singles Charts, according to the Official Charts Company. Miley Cyrus was the last to do it, when Bangerz and “Wrecking Ball” both arrived at No. 1 on the Official Charts back in August 2013.
The single that stops a Swift trifecta on the latest chart, published Oct. 28, is Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy” (EMI), down 1-2, while David Guetta and Bebe Rexha’s former chart-topper “I’m Good (Blue)” dips 2-5.
Meanwhile, the only non-Midnights track to enjoy a top 10 gain is Oliver Tree and Robin Schultz’s viral EDM release “Miss You” (Atlantic), up 9- 8, while Southstar’s version of the song slips 23-27 via B1/Ministry of Sound.
Following the release of their seventh studio album, The Car (via Domino Recordings), Arctic Monkeys park two tracks in the top tier, with “Body Paint” accelerating 60-22, while “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” enters one place below at No. 23, for the Sheffield, England alternative rock band’s 18th U.K. top 40 appearance.
Finally, U.S. singer Meghan Trainor lands her first U.K. top 40 single in four years with “Made You Look” (Epic), new at No. 28; Australian singer and songwriter Dean Lewis climbs with the teary “How Do I Say Goodbye” (Universal Music Australia), up 35-31; and Joel Corry and Tom Grennan debut with “Lionheart (Fearless)” (via Atlantic), new at No. 37.
Taylor Swift achieves her 11th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Nov. 5) as Midnights arrives with the biggest week for any album in nearly seven years. The set launches with 1.578 million equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 27, according to Luminate. The last album to tally a larger week was the debut frame of Adele’s 25, when it bowed with 3.482 million units (Dec. 12, 2015-dated chart).
Midnights was released on Oct. 21 after being announced two months earlier by Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards (Aug. 28). No music from the album was released until the set dropped on Oct. 21, when she also issued the music video for Midnights’ first single, “Anti-Hero.” Midnights is Swift’s 10th full-length studio album and initially bowed as a 13-track standard release. Three hours after Midnights’ arrival, Swift released a deluxe version of the album (its “3am Edition”) with seven bonus tracks.
Swift now ties Barbra Streisand for the most No. 1 albums among women. Swift is also the sixth act with more than 10 No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 since the chart began regularly publishing on a weekly basis in 1956. She joins The Beatles (who lead with a record 19 No. 1s), Jay-Z (14), Drake, Bruce Springsteen and Streisand (each with 11).
Midnights is already the year’s top-selling album by overall sales through the year, and tallies the largest sales week for an album since her own reputation debuted in 2017, the third-largest streaming week ever for an album, and the biggest sales week for a vinyl album in the modern era (since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200: albums from Arctic Monkeys, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Jeezy and DJ Drama debut.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Nov. 5, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 1). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of Midnights’ 1.578 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 1.140 million, SEA units comprise 419,000 (equaling 549.26 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 20 total tracks) and TEA units comprise 19,000.
Third-Biggest Streaming Week Ever: Midnights logs the third-largest streaming week ever for an album, by total on-demand official streams. It also captures the biggest streaming week for a non-R&B/hip-hop album and any album by a woman. The Nos. 1 and 2 biggest streaming weeks were logged by the debut frames of Drake’s Scorpion (745.92 million) and Certified Lover Boy (743.67 million), respectively.
Previously, Swift’s biggest streaming week for an album was tallied by the first week of Red (Taylor’s Version), with 303.23 million in 2021.
2022’s Top-Selling Album: With 1.140 million sold, Midnights is easily 2022’s top-selling album already. Previously, 2022’s top-seller — adding up all sales generated through the year — was Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, with 633,000 copies sold through Oct. 27. (In terms of total equivalent album units, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is 2022’s biggest album, with 2.911 million units earned.)
Breaking down Midnights’ first-week sales of 1.140 million, physical sales comprise 980,000 (575,000 on vinyl, 395,000 on CD and 10,000 on cassette) and digital album downloads comprise 161,000.
Biggest Sales Week Since Swift’s Own reputation: The 1.140 million sales number for Midnights marks the largest sales week for any album since Swift’s own reputation debuted with 1.216 million copies sold (chart dated Dec. 2, 2017).
Swift Has Five Albums With Million-Plus Sales Weeks: Midnights is the 22nd album to sell at least 1 million copies in a single week since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. In total, there have been 24 instances — by 22 different albums — in which an album sold at least 1 million copies in a week. One of those albums, Adele’s 25, sold more than 1 million in three separate weeks. Swift is the only artist with five different albums to each sell at least 1 million copies in a single week in the Luminate era — Midnights, reputation, 1989, Red, and Speak Now.
Further, now with five, Swift remains the only act with at least three different albums that hit the million-sales weekly threshold. Three acts have a pair of albums that each managed a million-plus sales week: Backstreet Boys, Eminem and *NSYNC.
New Modern-Era Vinyl Sales Record: Midnights handily breaks the modern-era record for single-week vinyl album sales in the U.S. with 575,000 vinyl LPs sold. That’s the largest week for an album on vinyl since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. It surges past the previous high, set earlier this year, when Harry’s House debuted with 182,000 vinyl copies (week ending May 26, 2021).
Midnights is also already 2022’s top-seller on vinyl year-to-date. Previously, the year’s top-seller on vinyl was Harry’s House, with 377,000 sold through the year.
Midnights’ 395,000 in CD sales is the largest sales week for an album on CD since reputation launched with 507,000 copies sold.
Midnights arrived after months of pre-release promotion and pre-orders — and its sales figure is bolstered by an array of available versions and variants of the album. It is available to purchase in a standard digital album (both clean and explicit); a deluxe digital album (clean and explicit, each with seven additional songs); an iTunes-exclusive version with a bonus spoken word track (clean and explicit); four standard CD editions (each with a different cover, both clean and explicit); four vinyl LP editions (each with a different cover and colored vinyl); and a cassette tape. Target is also selling an exclusive “Lavender” edition of the album on CD and colored-vinyl LP, with the CD boasting three bonus tracks.
Plus, in the weeks leading up to release, Swift’s webstore sold pre-orders of signed copies of the four standard CD albums and the four standard vinyl LPs. Midnights is also available in deluxe boxed set with a CD edition of the album and a Swift-branded T-shirt, exclusively for Capital One cardholders.
Some superfans may have also been enticed to purchase all four variants of the album on either CD or vinyl, as the back covers of the four albums fit together like a puzzle to display a clock face (a literal reference to Midnights!). Swift shared the news through her social media in mid-September, saying: “If you put all the back covers together, she’s a clock. It’s a clock… It makes a clock.” (Swift’s official webstore sells hardware to hold the four CDs or the four vinyl LPs together as a wall clock.) The idea of assembling multiple versions of an album’s back cover (or cover) together to reveal a larger complete image isn’t unique to Swift, as other acts (frequently in the K-pop world) have employed a similar marketing idea.
It’s not unusual for many artists to offer variants of an album, from multiple color vinyl editions to collectible CD packages and beyond. Swift herself has rolled out albums in a similar fashion in the past — she had four different Target-exclusive variants for Lover in 2015. In 2022, acts ranging from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ozzy Osbourne to BLACKPINK and Madonna have all leaned in to the practice of offering multiple iterations of a physical album where usually the only difference is in packaging or the color of a vinyl LP.
Lil Baby’s It’s Only Me falls to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (110,000 equivalent album units; down 49%) after debuting atop the list a week earlier. Bad Bunny’s chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti drops out of the top two for the first time since its release, as the set moves 2-3 with 67,000 units (down 7%). When the album hit its 18th week in the top two, it became the first set to spend its first 18 weeks in the top two since the chart since August of 1963, when Billboard combined its separate stereo and mono album charts into one single album chart. (See more history on the Billboard 200, which began publishing as a regular, weekly fixture in March of 1956.)
Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album is a non-mover at No. 4 with 43,000 equivalent album units (down 4%) and The Weeknd’s The Highlights is stationary at No. 5 with 39,000 (down less than 1%).
Arctic Monkeys score their fourth top 10-charting album on the Billboard 200 as The Car drives in at No. 6 in its first week. It earned 37,500 equivalent album units; of that sum, album sales comprise 28,500, SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 11.76 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s Ma’ I Got a Family starts at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with 37,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that, SEA units comprise 36,500 (equaling 52.54 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs). The new set is the 12 th top 10-charting effort for the prolific rapper, and his fifth top 10 in 2022 — the most of any act this year. He made his Billboard 200 debut in 2017 and got his first top 10 in 2018 with Until Death Call My Name. In total, his latest debut is the artist’s 25th charting effort.
Styles’ Harry’s House is a non-mover at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 with 32,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%).
Jeezy and DJ Drama’s Snofall starts at No. 9 on the Billboard 200, marking the 11th top 10 for the former and the first for the latter. It bows with 31,000 equivalent album units earned. SEA units comprise 28,000 (equaling 38.45 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 2,500 and TEA units comprise 500.
Rounding out the new top 10 is Beyonce’s former No. 1 Renaissance, which falls 6-10 with 30,000 equivalent album units earned (down 10%).
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.
