Taylor Swift becomes first musician to claim the Billboard Top 10

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Raph_PH | Wikimedia Commons

Samantha Sollitto

After the release of her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” Taylor Swift continues to break records, claiming the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Billboard Hot 100 is a culminated list of the top 100 songs across all genres being streamed or bought by listeners in the U.S. that week. For artists like Swift, snagging the number one spot after a new release is usually expected. Even snagging five or six spots is expected for artists with her popularity.

However, being able to claim all 10 spots is unprecedented. On Oct. 31, Swift was able to make history by doing so, surpassing Drake’s previous record of nine out of 10 spots in 2021 with “Certified Lover Boy.”

The record was originally started with the Beatles claiming the top five spots of the Hot 100 in 1964.

Leading the charge was the first single released from the album called “Anti-Hero,” which currently still holds the number one spot, despite a comeback single from Rihanna and a new collaborative album from Drake and 21 Savage.

This feat also pushes Swift past Madonna in becoming the female artist with the most “top tens” in Billboard history, Swift having 40 and Madonna with 38.

With “Midnights,” Swift was able to claim Spotify’s most streamed artist and most streamed album in a single day with 184.6 million streams as of Oct. 21.

While these records are most certainly some of Swift’s most notable, it’s not the first time she’s made history.

Swift is among artists like Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder who were able to win Album of the Year at the Grammy’sthree times. She was the only artist who won for three different genres: country, pop and indie/folk. She was also the first solo female act to win the prestigious award more than once.

In addition to this, her 2010 album that helped launch her stardom, “Fearless,” is noted as the most awarded country album of all time and her 2014 introduction to pop, “1989,” won album of the year at multiple award shows.

While Swift has proven herself to be a powerhouse musician, there was a moment where she was placed under an immense amount of scrutiny by the public and considered “canceled.”

This situation would have been detrimental and possibly career ending had it happened to any other artist. However, Swift took her pain and created her 2017 pop album, “Reputation,” where she explored themes of love and revenge.

She then embarked on her “Reputation Stadium Tour” where she toured the world performing songs from her catalog, breaking the record for “highest grossing U.S. tour” in 2018.

Then, in 2019, Swift released her third pop album and seventh studio album, “Lover,” for which she planned to tour in 2020. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting everything down, “Lover Fest” had to be postponed indefinitely.

For the first time in six years, Swift will finally be touring again for her new album. Announced just shortly after her historic Billboard Top 10 moment, “The Eras Tour” will begin in March 2023.

This tour will consist of music from all her past albums, as she reminisces on the experiences that inspired each of them. Currently, she’s only shared U.S. tour dates, with international dates to come later.

Each show will consist of two openers out of the nine that she’s announced: Paramore, beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, MUNA, HAIM, GAYLE, Gracie Abrams or OWENN.

With the demand being high, Swift has already announced eight additional dates to the original U.S. tour schedule and Ticketmaster has honored those who previously bought “Lover Fest” tickets, allowing them first access to “The Eras Tour” sale.

From tour to “Midnights” to re-recordings, fans eagerly wait to see what tricks Swift has left up her sleeve for the remainder of 2022.