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Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 9), as the set rises 2-1 for its third total week atop the tally. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Nov. 11-dated chart and spent its second week in the lead, before dipping to No. 2 for the next two weeks and bouncing back to the top on the new chart. The set earned 141,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 30 (up 3%), according to Luminate.
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Swift has a stranglehold on the new Billboard 200’s top 10, as she has five titles concurrently in the region. After 1989 (Taylor’s Version), four more former No. 1s follow: Midnights (rising 6-3), Folklore (9-5), Lover (8-6) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (17-10). Swift’s titles, like many on the entire chart, see sales gains gleaned partially from retail promotions associated with Black Friday and holiday campaigns.
With five titles in the top 10, Swift is the first living act to have five albums concurrently in the top 10 since the Billboard 200 was combined from its previously separate mono and stereo album charts into one all-encompassing list in August of 1963. The only other act to hold at least five of the top 10 at the same time was Prince, on the May 14, 2016-dated list, following his death. That week in the top 10, he had The Very Best of Prince (falling 1-2), the Purple Rain soundtrack (with The Revolution; 2-3), The Hits/The B-Sides (6-4), Ultimate (61-6) and 1999 (31-7).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Michael Bublé’s chart-topping Christmas returns, vaulting 24-9. The set, first released in 2011, spent five weeks at No. 1 in December 2011 and early January 2012 and has returned to the top 10 in every following holiday season.
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 Dec. 9, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 5. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
With three weeks at No. 1, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has the most weeks atop the chart of Swift’s four re-recorded projects. The Taylor’s Version releases of Fearless, Red and Speak Now ruled for two, one and two weeks, respectively. Further, Swift’s total weeks at No. 1 – across all 13 of her chart-topping releases – climbs to 66 weeks, just one week from the most for a soloist. Elvis Presley has the most weeks at No. 1 among soloists, with 67, while only The Beatles have more than Swift and Presley, with 132 weeks.
Drake’s chart-topping For All the Dogs falls to No. 2 on the new Billboard 200 with 85,000 equivalent album units earned (down 42%), after its rush back to No. 1 a week ago in the wake of its deluxe reissue with six bonus tracks. Swift’s Midnights rises 6-3 with 65,000 units (up 16%), Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time climbs 5-4 with 63,000 units (down 7%) and Swift’s Folklore flies 9-5 with 60,000 units (up 33%).
Swift’s Lover bumps 8-6 with 53,000 equivalent album units earned (up 4%), SZA’s chart-topping SOS ascends 10-7 with 48,000 units (up 8%), Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Guts bolts 14-8 with 47,000 units (up 20%), Bublé’s Christmas climbs 24-9 with 46,000 units (up 56%) and Swift’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) flies 17-10 with nearly 46,000 units (up 23%).
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.
Mariska Hargitay recently introduced her new cat Karma to the world, and no one is more thrilled than Taylor Swift.
The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star shared a photo of her sweet pet on Instagram earlier this week. “Karma is a Cat @taylorswift Meet Karma. My Cat. #MeAndKarmaVibeLikeThat #AndIKeepMySideOfMyPawClean #KarmaIsACat,” Hargitay wrote, revealing the inspiration behind her cat’s name is, of course, a lyric from a song by Swift.
On the chorus of the Midnights track “Karma,” Swift sings, “Sweet like honey, karma is a cat purring in my lap ’cause it loves me.”
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On Saturday (Dec. 2), two days after Karma the cat made their debut on social media, Swift publicly shared her reaction to the kitty’s arrival.
“Are you serious?!!!! Nothing has ever come more full circle,” Swift wrote in the comments section of Hargitay’s post. “LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!”
Hargitay and Swift — who in 2014 named one of her own cats Olivia Benson after the actress’ starring role on SVU — have been connected for years.
After becoming friendly, Swift invited Hargitay to appear in 2015’s “Bad Blood” music video alongside Ellen Pompeo, whose Grey’s Anatomy character Meredith Grey inspired the name of Swift’s first cat in 2011. In June 2015, Hargitay walked the catwalk as one of Swift’s celebrity guests on the 1989 World Tour. More recently, Hargitay’s taken in more than one Eras Tour show and showed her support for the singer at the premiere of the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour film.
“She’s pure magic,” Hargitay told Entertainment Tonight in October. “There’s nothing she can’t do. It’s been so beautiful to reconnect to that innocence, you know? I think Taylor gives such a beautiful message to kids and unlocks these girls’ emotions.”
“I see how it affects my daughter, and she cries and just opens up like a flower,” Hargitay said of Swift’s impact. “And [I see] how meaningful it is, and I’m grateful to be part of it and watch that journey.”
“It’s been so beautiful [to see] how she gracefully walked through her journey and allowed herself to evolve and truly step into her power pose, her talent and all of her glory. And she’s got quite a bit of it … I think she is a magicmaker,” she added.
Swift released a remixed version of “Karma” featuring Ice Spice in May, giving the track a boost to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Billie Eilish wasn’t aware that a recent interview would be perceived as a coming out story, but she’s cool with it.
“I didn’t, but I kinda thought, wasn’t it obvious?” the pop star said to Variety on the red carpet for the Variety Hitmakers Brunch, where she and brother Finneas were being honored with the film song of the year award for their Barbie soundtrack tune “What Was I Made For?” on Saturday (Dec. 2). “I didn’t realize people didn’t know.”
In the publication’s Nov. 13 cover story, Eilish had mentioned that she’s attracted to women: “I love them so much,” she said. “I love them as people. I’m attracted to them as people. I’m attracted to them for real … I’m physically attracted to them. But I’m also so intimidated by them and their beauty and their presence.”
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Eilish has only ever been in public relationships with men, most recently The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford before their breakup in May.
Speaking on the red carpet Saturday about the Variety cover story and the concept of coming out, she casually said, “I just don’t really believe in it. I’m just like, why can’t we just exist? I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I just didn’t talk about it. Whoops.”
“But … I saw the article and I was like, ‘Oh! I guess I came out today!’” Eilish said with a laugh.
“It’s exciting to me because I guess people didn’t know, so it’s cool that they know,” the singer added. “But ooh, I’m nervous talking about it.”
“I am for the girls,” confirmed Eilish, who will soon be seen as the musical guest on the Kate McKinnon-hosted Dec. 16 episode of SNL.
“I’m still scared of ’em,” she added in the red carpet interview, “but I think they’re pretty.”
Watch the interview clip via Variety below.
Olivia Rodrigo brought “Can’t Catch Me Now” to the stage for the first time at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball in Inglewood, California, Friday night (Dec. 1). “So, has anybody watched The Hunger Games?” Rodrigo teased the crowd at Kia Forum before launching into the ballad. She added, “I was super lucky because this year I got […]
Taylor Swift was bejeweled at the Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé London premiere on Thursday night (Nov. 30), and the pop superstar took to Instagram to shower the “Alien Superstar” singer with love. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Got invited to London by The Queen…✨👑✨ Renaissance: A Film by […]
Doja Cat isn’t too happy with her performance at her Thursday night (Nov. 30) concert. After leaving the stage in Newark, N.J., the 28-year-old rapper posted an apology to fans on her Instagram Story. “I’m so f–kin sorry New Jersey,” Doja wrote, placing text over a seemingly random photo of a crushed-up chip. “I don’t […]
Like always, Selena Gomez is cheering on her best friend. A few days after Taylor Swift earned this year’s Apple Music Artist of the Year title, the Only Murders in the Building star joined in with a handful of Swift’s other famous friends to praise the “Anti-Hero” singer in a celebratory video. “I think it’s […]
Lana Del Rey is once again paying tribute to John Denver, this time surprise-dropping a cover of the late folk singer’s classic 1971 hit “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Released without notice on Friday (Dec. 1), the cover finds the singer-songwriter fully embracing her Americana musical influences. She and producer Zachary Dawes keep the instrumentation […]
We already knew that BTS held Usher in high regard thanks to their famous shout-out to the R&B legend (“Don’t need no Usher to remind me you got it bad”) on their 2021 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Butter.” But on BTS member Jung Kook‘s new remix of his solo track “Standing Next to […]
In a rare public rebuke aimed at what she deemed an “insane” rumor, Taylor Swift‘s longtime publicist Tree Paine slammed the anonymous gossip account DeuxMoi on Thursday night (Nov. 30) for what she said was a hurtful, false allegation about the singer.
“Enough is enough with these fabricated lies about Taylor from DeuxMoi,” Paine posted on X in response an Instagram Story shared Thursday from the blind account claiming that Swift had a non-legal ceremony described as a marriage to then-romantic partner actor Joe Alwyn “in either 2020 or 2021 in the UK” that the anonymous writer swore was a fact. “I will die on this hill!” DeuxMoi added. “Put it on my tombstone!”
“There was NEVER a marriage or ceremony of ANY kind,” Paine responded in a tweet verified by Billboard as coming from the publicist. “This is an insane thing to post. It’s time for you to be held accountable for the pain and trauma you cause with posts like these.”
Billboard reached out to DeuxMoi for a response, but had not received one at press time.
The post about the alleged wedding was accompanied by a since-deleted message from DeuxMoi seemingly hitting back at Paine, writing, “Well I make zero dollars from lying… can publicists say the same.” The unidentified person behind DeuxMoi released a novel, Anon Pls., last year — which is slated to become a TV series on Max — and hosts the Deux U podcast. “Also, to relate something that is in reference to something that happened years ago to ‘pain & trauma’ after what just happened seems like a poor choice of words,” the gossip blogger added.
“Either way, I apologize to Taylor,” DeuxMoi wrote in the response to Paine in the since-deleted post confirmed by Billboard.
The anonymous Instagram account posts unverified celebrity gossip it says are sourced from users. “This account does not claim information published is based in fact,” reads a disclaimer on the DeuxMoi feed.
Swift and Alwyn’s breakup made headlines in April; they were together for six years, during which they were frequently the subject of what the singer referred to as “weird rumors.” The singer-songwriter appeared to take on those whispers on “Lavender Haze,” the opening track of her Midnights album, singing, “I’m d–ned if I do give a d–n what people say/ the 1950s s— they want from me/ I just wanna stay in that lavender haze.”
“All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride/ the only kinda girl they see is a one night or a wife,” she continues on the track. Swift — who is currently dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — also dove into the whispers in an Instagram post before the album’s release, writing that “Haze” was inspired by her relationship with Alwyn, saying, “We’ve had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff.” She later deleted the video following the couple’s split.