If you thought Taylor Swift‘s jaw-dropping chart command was limited to the Billboard 200 this week, you thought wrong.
As if watching her latest album re-record, ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),’ blast to the top of the tally with the year’s biggest first-week sales yet wasn’t enough to brag about, the GRAMMY winner also became the first woman to simultaneously occupy four spots in the hitlist’s top 10.
That history-making domination spilled over to the Hot 100 as well as revealed by the chart’s updated top 10 on Monday (July 17).
Details inside.
Thanks to content from her blockbuster 10th studio album, ‘Midnights,’ Swift entered Billboard history books in late 2022 by becoming the first artist to occupy the tally’s entire top 10 by her lonesome. And while the entries saw her hop pass Queen of Pop Madonna as the woman with the most top 10 hits, Taylor also tied the longstanding official top 5 record of another Pop royal: Janet Jackson.
Jackson, thanks to megahits like ‘Love Will Never Do,’ ‘Escapade,’ ‘All For You,’ and more, has amassed a whopping 24 top 5 hits on the Hot 100 over her illustrious career – a feat Taylor matched when her ‘Midnights’ cuts ‘Anti-Hero,’ ‘Lavendar Haze,’ ‘Midnight Rain,’ ‘Maroon,’ and ‘Snow on the Beach’ surfed into the chart region (pushing her cumulative count to 24).
Eventually sailing to #2 in 2023 with the Ice Spice-assisted remix to the project’s fan favorite, ‘Karma,’ Swift – by amassing her 25th top 5 hit – broke Jan’s unofficial top 5 record. However, longtime fans of the ‘Rhythm Nation‘ diva know Herb Alpert‘s ‘Diamonds,’ which peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 at the height of its popularity in 1987, features prominent vocals from the legendary songstress despite not listing her on its credits.
This week, thanks to the #5 premiere of ‘I Can See You (Taylor’s Version),’ Swift collected her 26th top 5 hit – thereby smashing Janet’s overall top 5 record. Here are the numbers that powered the placement.
- Streaming: 24.7 million U.S.-based streams
- Digital Downloads: 4,000 sold
- Radio Airplay: 361,000 audience impressions
Pushing herself to the bronze spot on the all-time list (among women), the only female acts to have accrued more Billboard Hot 100 top 5s over their careers are Madonna (28) and Mariah Carey (27). When all acts are considered, Drake leads the all-time fold with 35 top 5 entries and The Beatles follow with 29.