For the first time in music history, the Billboard Top 10 chart is completely devoid of all but one lead performing artist, and that artist is Taylor Swift.
In the wake of the country act turned global megastar’s dominant new studio album Midnights, Swift becomes the first artist in history to occupy every top 10 slot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
The statistic, reported by Billboard on Monday, takes into consideration a song’s streams, airplay, and sales in order to calculate its standing in the ranking.
Notably, this week’s top 10 is also the first in Billboard’s history not to feature a single male act.
Per Billboard top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of October 21 – October 27 was tracked as follows, with the ranking led by Swift’s “Anti-Hero.”
“Rank, Title: Streams / Airplay Audience / Sales:
No. 1, “Anti-Hero”: 59.7 million streams / 32 million in airplay audience / 13,500 sold
No. 2, “Lavender Haze”: 41.4 million / 2.4 million / 2,800
No. 3, “Maroon”: 37.6 million / 471,000 / 2,900
No. 4, “Snow on the Beach,“ feat. Lana Del Rey: 37.2 million / 615,000 / 2,600
No. 5, “Midnight Rain”: 36.9 million / 449,000 / 2,200
No. 6, “Bejeweled”: 35.5 million / 1.6 million / 16,100
No. 7, “Question…?”: 31 million / 425,000 / 21,400
No. 8, “You’re on Your Own, Kid”: 34.1 million / 498,000 / 1,500
No. 9, “Karma”: 33 million / 1.9 million / 3,400
No. 10, “Vigilante Sh*t”: 32.2 million / 424,000 / 6,400”
Each song in the chart’s top 10 ranking comes from Swift’s Midnights LP release October 21st, with viral single “Anti-Hero” leading the charge.
Notably, the number 10 song in the ranking features blatant profanity in its title, an indication of the immense socioeconomic influence currently leveraged by Swift, particularly as pertaining to pop culture.
The only other artist to appear in this week’s chart ranking is Lana Del Rey, who contributes featured vocals to the fourth ranking track, “Snow on the Beach.”
Swift and Del Rey have both had notable collaborations with producer Jack Antonoff in recent years, as the producer continues to expand his production brand to encompass many of music’s top stars.
Billboard reports that Swift has become one of only 16 acts in music history to notch nine or more number 1 hits on the Hot 100 chart, with seven of these acts – including Swift – having been women.
These names include Mariah Carey with 19, Rihanna with 14, Madonna with 12, Whitney Houston with 11, Janet Jackson with 10, and Katy Perry with 9.
The Beatles remain the leading act in terms of Hot 100 records, having notched 20 in their brief but enormously impactful run as a group.
Not only has Swift become the first woman to occupy every spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart’s top 10 ranking simultaneously, she has become the first artist of any gender, race, or genre to achieve such a milestone.
Furthermore, the Midnights LP marks the first album in history with as many as 10 Hot 100 Top 10 hits on the charts.
The closest an artist had previously come to either feat is just over a year prior to the release of Midnights, when Drake occupied 9 of the top slots upon the release of his Certified Lover Boy LP, missing out on only the number 6 slot, which was claimed by The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber with “Stay.”
In addition to the slew of records already shattered by Swift with the release of Midnights, she also now claims the most top 10 songs on the Billboard 100 charts of any female artist in the chart’s history.
Now with 40 top 10 hits to her name, Swift surpasses Madonna, who previously held the distinction with 38, and is bested in this regard by no other artist of any gender aside from Drake, who currently boasts a whopping 59 top 10 hits.
In just over a decade, Swift has released nine tracks which have gone on to become number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. These tracks, as reported by Billboard are as follows,
“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
Additionally, the artists with the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 10s in history as reported by Billboard is as follows,
“Most Billboard Hot 100 Top 10s:
59, Drake
40, Taylor Swift
38, Madonna
34, The Beatles
31, Rihanna
30, Michael Jackson
29, Elton John
28, Mariah Carey
28, Stevie Wonder
27, Janet Jackson
26, Justin Bieber
25, Lil Wayne
25, Elvis Presley (with the start of Presley’s career having predated the Hot 100’s inception)”
Beginning her recording career as a country singer with pop leanings through her 2006 self-titled debut, Taylor Swift would make a full transition to bonafide pop superstar eight years later with the release of 1989, an album which abandoned the guitar-based singer/songwriter aesthetic with which Swift had primarily been associated up to that time in favor of a sleak, 80s influenced, dance-pop atmosphere.
The songwriter continued to develop her sound in subsequent years, dabbling in various genre exercises ranging from electropop to folk and beyond.
Notably, Swift’s hyper-driven ascension to the pantheon of cultural superstardom stands in stark contrast to the current situation in which former sparring partner Kanye West currently finds himself.
After several years of erratic, contradictory, and generally problematic behavior, West currently faces near-universal ostracization by fans, former endorsers, media outlets, and public figures alike following recent anti-semetic comments.
Perhaps most significantly, the central driving force of West’s impressive net worth, his deal with clothing giant Adidas through his own Yeezy brand, has reportedly been terminated, further exacerbating the rapper/producer’s calamitous and ongoing fall from grace.
Midnights is available for purchase and streaming now.
Additional music coverage from LOOTPRESS can be found here.