Taylor Swift’s twelfth studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” made history on the charts in the third week of October. Starting with the Billboard 200, it became her fifteenth No.1 album. Except for her debut album, every studio and re-recorded release has reached No.1. With this latest album becoming a chart-topper, she surpasses Drake and Jay-Z to hold the most No.1 albums by a solo artist. The only artist still ahead of her is The Beatles, with nineteen No.1 albums.

In its debut week, “The Life of a Showgirl” earned a total of 4,002,000 equivalent album units, including a record-breaking 3,479,500 in pure album sales. Both figures mark the highest ever since Billboard began digital tracking in 1991. The album surpasses Adele’s “25,” which had previously held the record with 3,482,000 total equivalent album units and 3,378,000 in album sales.

Preorders for “The Life of a Showgirl” opened on August 12, and when the album was released on October 3, its total sales, including preorders, began to be counted. On that single day, the album moved 2.7 million units, surpassing the first-week total of her previous record holder, “THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT” (TTPD), which debuted with 2.61 million, all within a single day. The album was released in 38 versions, including 16 CDs, 8 vinyl variants for a total of 27 physical editions, and 11 digital download versions. Its vinyl sales alone reached 1,334,000 copies, the highest since 1991.

The album also earned 689 million streams in its debut week, equal to about 522,600 album units, ranking fourth all-time in this category. The record remains with Swift’s own “TTPD,” which hit 891 million. Considering “TTPD” had 31 tracks while “The Life of a Showgirl” has only 12, its efficiency is remarkable. Historically, this category has favored albums by artists like Drake or Morgan Wallen, whose track lists are much longer.

With “The Life of a Showgirl,” Taylor Swift now has eight albums that sold over one million copies in their debut week, more than any artist since 1991. Since then, only 27 weeks in total have ever seen million-plus sales, representing 25 albums. The number of albums is smaller because Adele’s “25” reached the million-sales mark for three consecutive weeks. Aside from Swift and Adele, most weekly million-sellers appeared in the early 2000s, during the final boom of the CD era. That’s why names like NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Eminem, and Britney Spears still dominate those upper ranks.

The reason Adele’s “25” held its legendary record for nearly a decade is similar. She’s one of the few artists who can drive album purchases across every generation. In 2015, before streaming fully took over, “25” wasn’t available to stream for several months after its release. Since 2020, however, it has become impossible to exclude streaming. Of course, streaming has the advantage of generating revenue over a long period after an album’s release. However, given that listening time is a finite resource, there is a natural limit to what an album can achieve in its weekly performance. Even record-setting streams of “TTPD” translated to 683,000 equivalent units. Unless a week has more than seven days, it is challenging to surpass that limit.

Moving to the Billboard Hot 100: every track from “The Life of a Showgirl” occupied the chart’s top 12 spots for the third week of October. It’s the first album in history to line up all its tracks consecutively from No.1 to No.12. Swift is also the only artist ever to monopolize the entire Top 10 in one week, a feat she’s now achieved three times, with “Midnights” (2022), “TTPD” (2024), and “The Life of a Showgirl” (2025).

The album’s lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” became her thirteenth No.1 hit, placing her fourth on the all-time list. Ahead of her are The Beatles with 20 No.1 hits, followed by Mariah Carey with 19 and Rihanna with 14. Within the 2020s, she leads with eight No.1s, followed by BTS and Ariana Grande with six each. Of her thirteen chart-toppers, eight debuted directly at No.1. That puts her ahead of Ariana Grande, making her the second overall. Drake leads with nine. She now has sixty-nine Top 10 hits overall, ranking second behind Drake’s eighty-one.

“The Fate of Ophelia” logged 92.5 million streams in its debut week, the highest since September 2020, when Billboard began counting only official audio streams, excluding user-generated content. The previous record was 76.4 million, set by Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help.” It also became Swift’s tenth No.1 on the Streaming Songs chart, second only to Drake’s twenty-one. The track debuted at No.7 on the Radio Songs chart, marking her twenty-second Top 10 on that chart. Since 1998, only five songs have ever debuted in the Top 10 on the Radio Songs chart: Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up,” Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” Janet Jackson’s “All for You,” and now, Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia.”

Not just “The Fate of Ophelia,” but every track on the album posted massive streaming numbers. All twelve songs occupied the top twelve spots on the Streaming Songs chart, setting new weekly records for every position from 1 through 12 among songs released in 2025. Even the No.12 track, “Honey,” drew 42.2 million streams, surpassing the previous record of 35.7 million held by Huntrix’s “Golden.” Among songs released before 2024, the top 2025 streaming totals include Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” with 71.9 million streams, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” with 49 million, and “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA with 45.2 million.

First, let’s look at how “K-Pop Demon Hunters” (hereafter “KDH”) has performed on the Billboard 200 over the past month. The “KDH” soundtrack first hit No.1 in the third week of September with 128,000 equivalent units and has since seen a gradual decline. Even as new releases from Twenty One Pilots, Cardi B, and Taylor Swift entered at No.1 with strong debuts, it held firm at No.2. In the second week of October, amid a crowded field with five new albums debuting in the Top 10, it returned to the top for a second week at No.1. As of the third week of October, it remains solid at No.2 on the Top Streaming Albums chart and No.3 on Top Album Sales.

“Golden” added six to eight weeks at No.1 on the Hot 100 between the fourth week of September and the second week of October. That surpasses the five-week No.1 runs of “Lady Marmalade” from the 2001 film “Moulin Rouge” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto” (2022). Eight weeks at the top makes it the eighth film song in history to reach that milestone. The all-time leader in this category is Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” from “The Bodyguard” (1992), which spent 14 weeks at No.1. Among girl groups, “Golden” holds the second-longest run ever, surpassing TLC’s seven-week record with “Waterfalls.” It now approaches the eleven-week mark of Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Women Part I,” from the 2000 film “Charlie’s Angels,” which ranks fifth among all movie songs in chart history.

During the same period, the song’s sectional performance also remained strong. Streaming stayed above 30 million plays, keeping “Golden” atop the Streaming Songs chart for nine to eleven consecutive weeks. Since the chart launched in 2013, 170 songs have reached No.1, and only twenty of them, including “Golden,” have held the position for 10 weeks or more. On the Radio Songs chart, it has been climbing steadily from No.16 to No.9 to No.8, marking the first time an animated artist has entered the Top 10. The achievement recalls “Gorillaz” in the 2000s, who once broke into the Top 40. On the Digital Song Sales chart, it has stayed high, rising from No.2 to No.1.

In the third week of October, Taylor Swift’s dominance across positions 1 through 12 pushed “Golden” down to No.13. Its streaming numbers have remained stable, placing it 13th on the Streaming Songs chart for the same reason. On radio, however, it has risen again to No.5, re-entering the Top 5, while it continues to hold No.1 on the Digital Song Sales chart.

Olivia Dean’s second album, “The Art of Loving,” debuted at No.8 on the Billboard 200 in the second week of October. It marks her first appearance on the Billboard 200. Across categories, the album showed a balanced profile, ranking No.8 on the Top Streaming Albums chart and No.7 on Top Album Sales. Streaming performance also fueled her presence on the Hot 100. The pre-release single “Man I Need,” which had been sitting at No.25, surged to No.12. Two other tracks entered the chart as well: “Nice to Each Other” at No.97 and “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” at No.98.

The streaming momentum carried into the third week of October. Despite the debut of Taylor Swift’s new album, “The Art of Loving” climbed to No.7 on the Billboard 200. On the Hot 100, “Man I Need” slipped to No.20, but considering that songs from “The Life of a Showgirl” unexpectedly filled positions 1 through 12, it was still a strong showing. Notably, “So Easy (To Fall in Love)” rose to No.87 with a 54 percent increase in streaming. Two additional tracks appeared on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.

Olivia Dean’s 2023 debut album, “Messy,” won acclaim for its blend of neo-soul and pop, reaching No.4 on the UK Albums Chart, but it failed to gain traction in overseas markets, including the United States. Until she released “Man I Need” in August this year, she had never appeared on any Billboard chart. That makes the instant impact “The Art of Loving” made upon release even more striking.

For those who believed in her potential, this outcome felt well-earned. Since the “Messy” era, she had been cherished as a “best-kept secret” artist. The Mercury Prize, one of the UK’s most prestigious album awards, nominated “Messy” among its 12 shortlisted works in July 2023, just a month after its release. Later that year, she delivered a memorable performance on BBC’s year-end music show “Jools’ Annual Hootenanny.” Following her visit to Korea last year, covers of “Dive” by local fans began to surge.

By 2025, in what can be called her “The Art of Loving” era, she proved herself through music. The singles “Nice to Each Other,” “Lady Lady,” and “Man I Need,” released from May through August, formed one of this year’s most successful pre-album campaigns. In the UK, “The Art of Loving” topped the Albums Chart while “Man I Need” led the Singles Chart, making Olivia Dean the first British female solo artist since Adele in 2021 to hold both No.1 spots simultaneously. She also became the first woman ever to earn her first No.1 album and first No.1 single at the same time. Her rise has been sudden even within the UK. She did not climb the global ladder through success at home or across the English-speaking world. Instead, listeners in the UK, the US, and beyond seemed to discover Olivia Dean almost all at once. That’s what good songs do.

• COURTIS’ “Color Outside The Lines (EP)” debuted at No.15 on the Billboard 200 and No.3 on Top Album Sales for the week of September’s fourth chart week. In the same week, “GO!” entered the Global 200 at No.180.
• CHAEYOUNG’s “Lil Fantasy, Vol.1” debuted at No.38 on the Billboard 200 and No.6 on Top Album Sales in the same week.
• KATSEYE’s “Gnarly” re-entered the Hot 100 at No.97 during the fourth week of September, while “Gabriela” reached a new peak at No.45. “SIS (Soft Is Strong) (EP)” also re-entered the Top Album Sales chart at No.34 in the second week of October.
• IVE’s “Secret: IVE, The 4th EP” debuted at No.16 on Top Album Sales for the first week of October.
• P1Harmony’s “EX (EP)” debuted at No.2 on Top Album Sales in the second week of October.