Taylor Swift makes history on Australian charts – Billboard

It’s a victory for Taylor Swift in the Australian charts, as The Department of Tortured Poets (via Universal) and “Fortnight” go to #1.

Tortured poets opens at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, released Friday April 26, for its lucky 13th leader in these regions.

With this result, Swift has the most No. 1 albums for a female solo artist in ARIA chart history, edging out Madonna to claim third place.

The all-time leader among groups with the most chart-topping albums in Australia is Jimmy Barnes with 15 solo (he had five more with Cold Chisel), followed by the Beatles with 14.

Meanwhile, Swift takes the double with “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone opening at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, for her 12th leader on that tally. With a dozen singles chart leaders, Swift ranks third on the all-time list of artists, behind Elvis Presley (No. 14) and the Beatles (No. 26).

At the same time, she became the first artist to hold the entire top 10 on the singles chart, and set a new mark for the most singles in the top 50, with 29 on the current frame. This crushes the old record of 20, set by Drake in 2021 and by herself in 2023.

All 31 tracks from the double album made an impact on the top 100, with “Robin” lowest at #55. Three older songs are in the top 100 (“Cruel Summer,” “Anti Hero” and “Lover”), meaning Swift has more than a third of all songs in the top 100 (34). The previous record was 32 in one week, ARIA reports, held by Michael Jackson and Taylor.

Swift, whose The tour of eras visited Australia in late 2023 for seven shows, is the only artist in ARIA history to return to number one on the national album tally. She has done it three times, including this month with Tortured poets replace Lover (previously, in 2023, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) replaced Midnights; and in March 2024, Lover replaced Midnights).

According to a statement released Friday evening by Universal Music Australia, Tortured poets is the best-selling vinyl album in ARIA’s history, the most streamed LP in the market in its opening week and the biggest debut album since Adele’s. 25 in 2015.

Remarkably, only two of the American pop superstar’s studio or re-recorded albums failed to peak in Australia – her self-titled debut, Taylor Swift (peaking at 33rd in 2006) and Intrepid (No. 2 in 2008). Intrepid (Taylor version) however, climbed to the summit in 2021.

In no TTP-ARIA Chart news, Pearl Jam bows at No. 2 with Black matter, the 12th studio album from the Seattle rock legends. Pearl Jam has had eight No. 1 albums in Australia: Against. in 1993, Vitalology In 1994, No code in 1996, Yield in 1998, Binaural In 2000, Anti-riot law in 2002, Back spacer in 2009 and Flash in 2013. Black matter is the sequel to the 2020s Gigatonwhich peaked at No. 3.