Taylor Swift gave us fair warning in her newest album: “Try and come for my job.” Over three months later, she’s still in her self-described “glittering prime.”
Released on April 19, “The Tortured Poets Department” logged 12 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, a career-best for Swift.
The uninterrupted reign of “Poets” is rare for a streaming-era release. It’s the first album ever by a female artist to spend its first 12 weeks atop the chart, surpassing a record previously held by Whitney Houston’s 1987 blockbuster “Whitney.” The all-time record for a consecutive streak among women is held by Carole King’s masterpiece “Tapestry,” which spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in 1971.
After briefly dropping to a lower position, “Poets” returned to No. 1 for a 13th week.
Swift is no stranger to chart success. Keep reading for a ranking of her 15 studio albums (including both originals and rerecords) based on their Billboard 200 performances.
9. “Taylor Swift”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 5
Swift’s self-titled debut is the only studio album in her catalog that hasn’t reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
“Taylor Swift” debuted at No. 19 and scaled the chart for more than a year, peaking at No. 5 in 2008.
8 (tie). “Lover”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week
Swift’s seventh studio album was the first one that she owned outright, thanks to her new label contract with UMG.
“Lover” was promoted by several singles, including “You Need to Calm Down,” “The Archer,” and “The Man.” Four years later, once Swift kicked off The Eras Tour, “Cruel Summer” climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for four weeks, becoming the album’s biggest hit.
8 (tie). “Red (Taylor’s Version)”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week
The extended tracklist for “Red (Taylor’s Version)” included the storied 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” a longtime fan-favorite song in Swift’s catalog.
“All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” was released alongside a short film directed by Swift and promoted by a convention-breaking performance on “Saturday Night Live.” It became the longest song to reach No. 1 in the history of the Hot 100.
7 (tie). “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for two weeks
“Fearless” was the first rerecorded album that Swift ever released.
The “Taylor’s Version” series was inspired by the sale of Swift’s masters to Scooter Braun in 2019, which she described as her “worst case scenario” in a passionate open letter. Swift decided to remake and rerelease her first six albums in a bid to reclaim ownership of her life’s work. (Braun later sold Swift’s masters to a private-equity company.)
In addition to faithfully recreating each tracklist, Swift decided to add never-before-heard songs “from the vault” that were written during the album’s original creative process but cut from the final product.
“I’ve spoken a lot about why I’m remaking my first six albums, but the way I’ve chosen to do this will hopefully help illuminate where I’m coming from,” Swift explained. “Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work.”
“For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the ‘Fearless’ album,” she continued. “Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons.”
Many were skeptical that the “Taylor’s Version” project would be embraced by fans, let alone achieve commercial success.
Those skeptics were forced to eat their words when “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” began to outpace the original on streaming platforms. According to Billboard, “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” earned more equivalent album sales in its first week of release than “Fearless” earned over the entire next year.
7 (tie). “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for two weeks
The rerecorded version of Swift’s third album featured six songs from the vault, including two duets: “Electric Touch” with Fall Out Boy and “Castles Crumbling” with Hayley Williams, one of Swift’s oldest friends.
6 (tie). “Reputation”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for four weeks
“Reputation” arrived after an extended period of silence. Her longtime feud with Ye (then known as Kanye West) and Kim Kardashian reached a fever pitch; Swift decamped to London and withdrew from the public eye.
She returned with a new snake-infested aesthetic and “Look What You Made Me Do,” a cheeky lead single that poked fun at her own persona.
Swift also declined to participate in interviews or media appearances while promoting her sixth album. Instead, she relied on a simple tagline: “There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation.”
6 (tie). “Evermore”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for four weeks
“Evermore” was surprise-released just five months after Swift’s previous album, “Folklore.” The two were billed as “sister albums,” created under near-identical conditions with the same team of collaborators.
“To put it plainly, we just couldn’t stop writing songs,” Swift explained on social media.
“Evermore” was nominated for album of the year at the 2022 Grammys, but lost to Jon Batiste’s “We Are.”
5 (tie). “Speak Now”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks
Swift’s third album had a lot to live up to, following the blockbuster success of “Fearless.”
In response to skeptics — who questioned whether the teen phenom was relying too heavily on her collaborators — Swift decided to write “Speak Now” entirely by herself. She is the only songwriter credited on the standard tracklist.
5 (tie). “Midnights”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks
Swift’s 10th studio album sold over 1 million copies in its debut week, the first to cross that seven-figure threshold since Swift’s own “Reputation.” (She has now achieved the feat on seven different occasions.)
“Midnights” also won album of the year at the Grammys, joining “Fearless,” “1989,” and “Folklore” in the prestigious group of victors. Swift is the only artist in history to win album of the year four times.
5 (tie). “1989 (Taylor’s Version)”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks
The rerecorded version of “1989” was released nine years after the original. Swift added five vault songs to the tracklist, including the fan-favorite closer “Is It Over Now?“
4. “Red”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for seven weeks
“Red” is Swift’s fourth studio album. It featured a mishmash of Max Martin-produced pop bangers (“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble”) and country-rock breakup anthems (“State of Grace,” “Holy Ground”).
3. “Folklore”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for eight weeks
“Folklore” marked a sonic departure for Swift, stripping down her favored synth-pop production to reveal introspective reflections and intricate story arcs.
The pandemic-era album was coproduced by Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner of The National. It received rave reviews from critics and is widely considered her best work to date.
2 (tie). “Fearless”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 11 weeks
Swift’s sophomore effort had the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 2000s. “Fearless” has since been certified diamond by the RIAA.
2 (tie). “1989”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 11 weeks
Swift’s fifth album marked her official pivot from country to pop music, a move that Swift said she had to “really fight — and I mean aggressively fight — to have happen.”
In addition to its double-digit streak atop the Billboard 200, “1989” yielded several hit singles on the Hot 100, including “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood.”
1. “The Tortured Poets Department”
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 13 weeks
Swift’s 11th studio album did not leave the No. 1 slot for 12 straight weeks after its debut in April, fending off new releases from stars like Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, and Zach Bryan.
Swift briefly yielded the top spot to Eminem and Stray Kids before “Poets” returned to No. 1 for another round.
The album’s 13-week reign brings Swift’s total sum of weeks atop the chart to 82, extending her record among solo artists.
Since the Billboard 200 was launched in 1956, only The Beatles have logged more weeks at No. 1 than Swift.
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