TAYLOR SWIFT SMASHES HISTORIC RECORD AS LATEST ALBUM BECOMES BIGGEST RELEASE

Taylor Swift has become the first artist to have a dozen number one albums in the UK in the 21st century.

It comes after the singer-songwriter, 34, released her latest album, the Tortured Poets Department, last week. She surprised fans by also releasing it as a "secret" double album, subtitled the Anthology, which contains fifteen additional songs.

The album has now topped the charts. According to the Official Charts Company it means that Taylor has become the first music artist to have 12 number one albums in the 21st century in the UK charts.

She previously topped the Official Albums Chart with Red, 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore, Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version), Midnights, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) and 1989 (Taylor's Version).

It isn't the only record that the Grammy Award winner has broken with her new album though. The album, believed to contain references to the likes of her ex-partner Joe Alwyn, was said to have become the first to achieve more than 300 million streams in a single day on Spotify upon its release.

The music streaming plaform announced about the album last week: "Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day, and [Taylor] became the most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history." It later added: "History made! On April 19, 2024, [Taylor's] The Tortured Poets Department was the first album in Spotify history to have over 300M streams in a single day."

The album is said to have has shifted 270,000 UK chart units, according to Official Charts Company. It exceeds her previous record of 204,000 in seven days, which she achieved when her album Midnights was released in 2022.

The Tortured Poets Department is also said to have enjoyed the biggest opening week for an album since Ed Sheeran released his album Divide in 2017. The latter reportedly had more than 670,000 sales and streams in its opening week.

Although now named as the first artist to have 12 albums top the chart in the UK in the current century, Taylor isn't the only act to have topped the album charts a dozen times. Madonna and Bruce Springsteen have also done so.

The Official Charts Company states about Taylor and Madonna: "[They are] level as the female artist with the most Number 1 albums in [the UK]." Madonna's dozen chart-topping albums were released between 1984 and 2012, which means that her achievement spans the 20th century and the 21st century. Similarly, Bruce's chart-topping albums were released between 1984 and 2020.

Only four acts in chart history are said to have more UK chart-topping albums than Taylor, Madonna and Bruce. The Beatles have 16, whilst the Rolling Stones and Robbie Williams are credited with 14. Elvis Presley instead has 13.

It has taken Taylor less than 12 years to secure her dozen chart-topping albums. The same achievement took Madonna and Bruce more than two decades, whilst it took the Beatles 14 years. The band's first number one album in the UK was with Please Please Me in 1963 and their 12th was the Beatles at Hollywood Bowl in 1977.

And Taylor is understood to have achieved her third UK chart double for the third consecutive year in a row. Her new single Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, has soared to number one in the Official Singles Chart alongside her latest album. She previously achieved the "relatively rare feat" with Midnights and its lead single Anti-Hero in 2022 and then 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and the single Is It Over Now? (Taylor's Version) in 2023.

Pearl Jam's Dark Matter is second on the Official Albums Chart in the UK behind Taylor this week. Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter has moved down one position to third on the chart, with the Weeknd's the Highlights and UB40's album UB45 following behind.

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2024-04-26T17:09:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd