- By Mark Savage
- BBC Music Correspondent
Swift announced her 10th album in August
Taylor Swift has become the first artist in history to claim every top 10 spot on the US Singles Chart.
She surpasses Drake, who held the previous record of nine top 10 singles in September 2021. Before him, the Beatles had scored eight top 10s in 1964.
Swift’s chart dominance is due to her latest album, Midnights, which became the best-selling release of 2022.
The 32-year-old claims the number one spot with the single Anti-Hero, whose chorus, “It’s me. Hi! I’m the problem, it’s me“, quickly became a Tik Tok trend.
The rest of the top 10 includes album tracks like Lavender Haze, Maroon, Snow On The Beach, Bejeweled, and Karma.
All 13 songs on the standard edition of Midnights hit the top 15, broken only by Sam Smith’s Unholy at 11 and Steve Lacy’s Bad Habits at 12.
The seven bonus tracks from the deluxe “3am edition” of Midnights appear between issues 20 and 45.
Swift took fans by surprise when she announced the new album in the final moments of the 2022 MTV VMAs in New Jersey in August.
She described the record as the story of “13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life” and “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams”.
He sees the star returning to the pop palette of his pre-pandemic albums, after the burlesque indie-folk of Evermore and Folklore, both released in 2020.
But the subdued sounds of those records linger, and its late-night tales are painted in more muted tones than hits like Shake It Off and Lover.
Part of its success is due to a clever marketing campaign, which saw the album released in several collectible formats – including four vinyl editions which combine to make a clock.
But Billboard reported that Swift’s Top 10 takeover would have been achieved by streams alone, before sales and radio play counted.
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Midnights debuted at number one on the US Albums Chart, selling 1.4 million copies – including over 1 million on CD and vinyl, a figure almost unheard of in the age of streaming.
The album also topped the UK chart with 204,000 sales, making it the first album to break the 200,000 sales barrier since Adele turned 30 just under a year ago.
Surprisingly, this figure represents the biggest first week sales of Swift’s career in the UK. Her previous record was for the 1989 album, which sold 90,300 copies in 2014.
However, she cannot replicate her dominance of the US singles countdown – due to a UK rule that only allows three songs by an artist to hit the Top 100 at any one time.
Without this restriction, Swift would have had eight of the top 10 singles for that week. Instead, she has to settle for number one (Anti-Hero), three (Lavender Haze), and four (Snow On The Beach).
Last week’s number one, Sam Smith’s Unholy, clings to number two, robbing Swift of a clean sweep atop the charts.
Billboard magazine said Swift’s latest album helped her break several records.
She now has the most top 10 female hits in chart history, with a total of 40 surpassing Madonna’s 38. Of all the acts, she trails only Drake, who has 59 top 10s.
Midnights is also the first album in history to spawn 10 top 10 singles.
Swift also broke records for the most streams of a single album in a day on Spotify, Apple and Amazon Music.
In the UK, Midnights sold 62,000 copies on vinyl alone – the highest weekly sale of any vinyl album of the 21st century.
