US pop star Taylor Swift has become the first woman, and only the third artist ever, to have four albums in the Top 10 of the US album chart at once, while also beating a record set by Barbra Streisand to become the female artist with the most No 1 albums in history.
The 33-year-old’s latest album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), has debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 with 716,000 album-equivalent units – a figure that combines physical sales with digital sales and streaming figures. It is the largest week for any album in 2023 and the best since her previous album, Midnights, was released last October.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is joined in the Top 10 by Midnights at No. 5, Lover at No. 7 and Folklore at No. 10. This makes Swift the first woman to have four albums in the Top 10 at the same time since the charts began in 1963, and the first living act to do so since 1966, when US trumpeter Herb Alpert achieved the same record.
The only other artist to have placed at least four titles in the Top 10 concurrently is Prince, who had five albums reach the Top 10 shortly after his death in 2016.
Swift has now also surpassed Streisand as the female artist with the most No 1 albums in history, with the two women previously tied with 11 each.
Swift albums now account for four of the five biggest debuts of the last five years, with Adele’s 2021 album 30 in fourth spot, just ahead of Speak Now.