Taylor Swift‘s latest album, ‘Midnights,‘ is currently dominating the Billboard 200 in nearly unprecedented fashion.
Opening to gargantuan sales of over 1.5 million first week, the project broke several all-time records on its path to the top of the chart including making her the first act to see five different albums sell over 1 million copies in one week, best one-week vinyl sales of the Luminate era (575,000), making her the first female artist to have 11 albums debut at #1, and so much more (as we reported here).
The slayage is by no means limited to the Billboard 200, however. Look inside to see how Swift is being penciled in Hot 100 history books for the tunes that line her latest LP.
As expected, Swift scored the most historic week in the 64-year history of the Hot 100 thanks to songs from ‘Midnights.’
Debuting at #1 with the set’s lead single, ‘Anti-Hero,’ Taylor now owns five #1 debuts – tying the all-time record among women previously set by Ariana Grande. K-Pop group BTS also has five #1 debuts. Canadian rapper Drake, with seven #1 debuts, leads among all artists.
Unlike Grande and Drake, however, Taylor is the first solo act to have five solo #1 openings.
Becoming her overall ninth chart-topper, here are the numbers that powered the song’s pounce to #1.
- Streaming: 59.7 million
- Digital Downloads: 13,500 sold
- Radio Airplay: 32 million
Look below to see how other hits from the project stack up.
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 Shit”: 32.2 million / 424,000 / 6,400
Swift becomes the first artist in history to occupy the Hot 100’s entire top 10 by her lonesome, passing a record previously set by Drake (who owned 9 of the top 10 with hits found from his latest album ‘Certified Lover Boy’). It’s worth noting that the streams for ‘Midnights’ was so strong that Tay would’ve occupied the entire top 10 by herself without a single spin or radio or digital sale.
By adding 10 new top 10s to her cumulative record, Swift now has 40 top 10 hits to her credit – a feat that sees her leave Queen of Pop Madonna behind on the all-time list of artists with most top 10s. Among all acts, Taylor trails only Drizzy (59 top 10s).
Taylor killing the white girl department
She’s killing every girl of every color department lol
Try this b****! You CANNOT! She is the STANDARD for current female Pop stars. Continue to SEETHE. We love to see it! 😈
Congrats Taylor! 👏🏽
She is not the standard for pop girls. Pink is those other b****** still can’t perform like pink.
And she’s still a flop, so… Facts are facts.
Nice new profile, Wwwd 😘
Wwwd If u say so
Taylor should start f****** machine gun Kelly and take him for Megan Fox. Awww Taylor n machine gun Kelly
Hail to the Queen of Music! Congratulations Taylor, well deserved darling!
Queen of music, you better believe it.
Most iconic week in the billboard top 100 history.
Taylor swift is and will always be the first artist to ever control the top 10.
Bow down everyone!
Even beyonce cant achieve this.
Everybody acted like renaissance was a blockbuster album, but this album by Taylor is truly the blockbuster game changing album of 2022
If beyonce loses album of the year to Taylor, yall better not complain
Nice gown, beautiful goen
Why would Taylor steal Beyoncé’s moment in renaissance? She could have release next year. Omg I think she tryna show the GP that she’s bigger star or something. Hmmmm
BeYAWNce is a old fart that can’t compete with the likes of Taylor TITAN Swift
That’s a very boring Top 100 and let’s be clear, she only got them sales by releasing 7 different versions!! So her fans bought all 7 versions!! Bit of a cop out!! If it was a standard and deluxe album it wouldn’t of sold those numbers!!!
Well the FOUR (not seven) versions of the album didn’t count towards her taking over the entire Top 10 of the Hot 100. Keep crying.
Queen of music, you better believe it.
Most iconic week in the billboard top 100 history.
Taylor swift is and will always be the first artist to ever control the top 10.
Bow down everyone!
It’s so interesting to observe the success of her style of bland. Hats off to her sales, clearly she has no competition.
There are lessons to be learned here about era rollouts, owning your masters (or re-recording them) that will benefit future artists.
For now, folks who aren’t into watching paint dry can’t wait for this magnolia rain 🌧️ to end so we can get back to a diverse top ten and past the masses obsession with the definition of a “basic” bîtçh. 🤷🏿♀️
Bland and basic is each and every black male rapper that usually fill up the charts with the same music, same subject matter (drugs, guns and p****), same beats, whilst all looking and sounding exactly alike. That’s bland and basic, sweetie.
Damn! This cute white gurl smashes Yonce “renaissance” and Adele “30” records. She genuinely nice, humble and works hard, that’s why she’s blessed and not pressed like others. I love her performance with Queen MJB in LA before. Congrats are in-order to Miss Swift.
Lol. Watch them seethe. It’s not like your favs put out the miseducation 2 or something
Congrats Taylor
I guess Renaissance isn’t basic, nah?
“Category: s*** b****, I’m the bar”
“Ass begging thiquer”
“Drop it like a thotty! Drop it like a thotty!”
“I want you to cuff it, cuff it, cuff it, cuff it, baby!”
PLEASE!
On Midnights, Taylor is speaking on her emotions, her inner-most thoughts, and story-telling in a way that keeps you captivated. It’s anything but basic. Oh, and she didn’t need to use samples and 20-30 writers on every track to come up with “drop it like a thotty! Drop it like a thotty!”
Don’t get me wrong, I love Renaissance for what it is, but let’s not act like it’s some great piece of music, because it definitely is not.
Beloved ur pissed because Taylor will never measure up to Beyonce’s talent or starpower. It’s fun to watch you convince yourself though. BLESSINGS
LOL you all only give this praise because Beyoncé didn’t achieve this, which is fine. But I bet none of you even listened to Taylor’s album to be giving it the glory that you are lmaoo. And this just shows how much the “streaming era” is a joke. Like why would the chart ever look like this 🤣 the music industry is washed 🧼 and they need the girlies like Taylor, Rihanna, and Beyonce to cling onto in tough times. We love this for Taylor though, however I find it comical. But bring on the tours!
Y’all say artists scared when Beyoncé releases Taylor will sit Beyoncé down quick 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Beyoncé could have done the same she releases in age of streaming but can’t do what Taylor did 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Taylor is gonna smash Beyoncé tour records to stay tuned
Beyoncé who queen of being overrated 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Record sales and Billboard entries and still WORTH LESS than Queen Rih.
When B*tches wanna know how to get coins OR have more accomplishments in their name, they seek the BEST.
But congrats for reaching ur PEAK.
Seething. Seething. SEETHING! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I love dancing in your tears 😂😂😂
💃🏽☔️
You’re the one who’s highly bothered by a Woman who has made a name for herself in Music & Business world.
I love Rihanna and always have. But she is no longer the standard for female pop star. Times change and that’s fine. Taylor is now the standard. The fact that Rih has nothing to do with it. We’re talking music. Oprah has money than Rihanna, but do we mention her? We could keep going lol.
You’re the one highly bothered that a little white woman who works her ass off and is the most successful female artist of the last 10 years.
And, to further add to your point, Taylor has been pushing out album after album in quick succession. What it something like only 4 or 5 months between Folklore and Evermore? So of course if she continues to strike whilst the iron is hot she’s going to get #1 album after #1 album, where most artists leave it 2-3 years before albums. Although on the flip side, it’s a credit to her hard work and, in my opinion, creativity. Just depends on which way you look at it, I suppose.
Oprah is NOT a POP star.
And Rihanna’s business ventures aren’t music related.
Apples and oranges.
Rihanna is far richer than Taylor. Congrats to her. Genuinely.
Her business ventures is apart of her accomplishments. They BOTH go hand and hand.
Rihanna didn’t simply dominate music, she’s also been praised for her visuals/aesthetics which INSPIRED her Business career. Not to mention her ability to take on different styles of Mainstream Music as a Female artist.
You can’t compare a fashion designer’s accomplishments to that of an architect. The two are different. They have nothing in common.
The same way you can’t compare Rihanna’s business ventures with Taylor. You can only compare what they have in common which is music.
Otherwise, you’re saying Rihanna is above every other music artist just because of her business ventures and wealth. Which she definitely is not.
You can only compare what two people have in common. Not what they do not.
Also, Rihanna didn’t write the majority of her music, her music was written and chosen FOR her. Her visuals/aesthetics were also created and chosen FOR her. Rihanna wasn’t in control of the majority of what she did.
Taylor, on the other hand, is in full control of her career, writing ALL of her songs, sometimes co-writing with someone to write the music whilst she writes the lyrics. She is in control of every part of her career.
Rihanna’s music is also not all that great. She has some bangers, yes. But I ask you to go back through her albums and pick how many songs from each you actually like. I did that and can only choose 1-2 of each of her albums that I actually like. She has released some fantastic HIT SINGLES but no great ALBUMS. Aside from maybe Anti. She is a singles artist. Which is why her albums have never sold too well.
Rihanna HAD to venture out as because she wasn’t writing her songs and therefore owned none of the publishing, OR selling a lot of albums, she wasn’t bringing the money in.
She couldn’t use huge tours to bring the money in either as she isn’t a great dancer or performer either. That’s just facts.
Taylor is worth $450 WITHOUT any business ventures. That’s more than enough money from doing what you love. She doesn’t NEED to venture out like Rihanna NEEDED to. But I’m sure that if she did want to sell beauty products and $1100 shades, she has such a larger fan base than that of Rihanna (just look at her sales and records broken), that I’m sure she would outsell Rihanna there and outwealth her too. Everything she releases musically FLIES off of the shelves, including every edition with a slightly different cover. People buy everything she throws at them. So, like I said, her beauty products and shades would also outsell Rihanna. But she’s making more than enough money from what she’s already doing. Rihanna wasn’t.
*$450 million
Yes I can bring up Rihanna’s business venture since it’s related to her STAR POWER/Impact in POP Music.
Her IMPACT/Versatility is the very reason she has made a name for herself in the Music & Business world.
We’re NOT debating who is more talented or make better Music.
We’re talkin’ about Accomplishments & who’s the STANDARD when it comes to reaching NEW LEVELS as a music artist.
If Taylor is content with making music only, that is her choice.
I still don’t understand how this refutes anything I’ve stated tho.
Because her IMPACT/Versatility didn’t equate to album sales or breaking as many records in music as Taylor Swift has, although it definitely has in her businesses as she is a beautiful and stylish fashion icon, loved and recognized all over the world.
I can admit Rihanna is an amazing money-making business woman.
Why can’t you admit that Taylor’s musical sales and impact are unparalleled amongst her peers, including Rihanna? Not that you have to as the sales and broken records speak for themselves. The same way Rihanna’s gargantuan bank balance speaks for itself. Facts are facts.
We don’t have to be at loggerheads, True Tea. We can both be right in different ways, and we can also both be wrong in different ways. It’s all ok. It’s not a competition lol.
Taylor is NOT the Queen of album sales.
Adele has sold more in a week than Taylor.
Now Taylor has dominated in streams/Billboard entries.
And I agree Taylor can sell records while her “status” as Queen is up for debate.
Adele has definitely sold more in a week than Taylor. Although Taylor is the only artist to have 5 albums sell more than a million first week.
Her status as Queen is definitely up for debate as it’s subjective and dependent upon which factors one believes makes her/doesn’t make her so.
Well earlier you were saying her status was set in stone due to her accumulation of sales/wealth.
So I’m glad you finally admit ur so called “fact” was an opinion, lol
Her sales are fact, but that doesn’t necessarily make her Queen! 😂 I was just saying she’s set the SALES standard for females amongst her current peers. Obviously not amongst legends!
Although Taylor’s record sales been very consistent, Adele took her weekly sales to a NEW LEVEL.
Personally I feel Taylor hasn’t really raised the stakes higher. She has simply been fortunate enough to maintain a loyal fanbase.
And that separates her from Legend/Queen despite breaking many records.
I agree about Adele. I don’t think anyone thought that many sales in one week would ever happen. I certainly didn’t. It was a huge shock.
And, to further add to your point, Taylor has been pushing out album after album in quick succession. What it something like only 4 or 5 months between Folklore and Evermore? So of course if she continues to strike whilst the iron is hot she’s going to get #1 album after #1 album, where most artists leave it 2-3 years before albums. Although on the flip side, it’s a credit to her hard work and, in my opinion, creativity. Just depends on which way you look at it, I suppose.
Many artists have worked hard and/or creative. Taylor is simply fortunate to have such loyal fans who “feel bad” whenever Taylor is supposedly victimized.
Latest sales: 2021-2022
Adele “30”- 839,000 copies first week
Taylor Swift “Midnights” 1,567,000 first week
Adele didn’t sell 3 million anymore in first week. She declined.
I don’t mean to be funny or disrespectful but I genuinely don’t get the appeal