Posted November 1, 20231 yr Taylor Swift’s career blossomed a little later in the UK than elsewhere (her first UK hit came four years after her US debut), but boy has she made up for it since. In the last three years alone, she's earned five UK Number 1 albums with Lover (2019), folklore and evermore (both 2020), Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version) (both 2021) and Midnights (2022). Throughout a career that has transcended genres and shifted direction numerous times, Taylor has amassed 18 UK Top 10 hits, although it may come as a surprise she's only topped the Official Singles Chart twice - with 2017's gothic Look What You Made Me Do (more on that later) and this year's buoyant Anti-Hero, taken from her new album Midnights. Now, she's undertaking her biggest challenge yet - re-recording her first six albums due to the controversial acquisition of her original masters by record exec Scott Borchetta and artist manager Scooter Braun (although it was confirmed Braun had sold the masters to a private equity firm, Shamrock Capital for $300 million). This year, Speak Now (Taylor's Version) became Taylor's tenth UK Number 1 album. Taylor is now the female solo artist to have claimed 10 chart-topping albums in the fastest succession; with 10 years and eight months separating her first Number 1 Red in 2012 and 2023’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Last year, Taylor overtook Madonna to claim the title with her ninth chart-topper Midnights. Madonna still holds the record for the female soloist with the most Number 1 albums, with twelve to her name. with the latter pulling her level with Kylie Minogue for the second-most chart-topping LPs for a female solo act ever. And now, that Top 10 in full... 10. Wildest Dreams Released: 2015 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 40 Total UK chart units: 1.1 million The greatest pop song Lana Del Rey never put her name to, the influence of the grandiose, baroque-pop of Born To Die is hard to ignore on Wildest Dreams, where Taylor weaves an intense vision of tight red dresses and bittersweet goodbyes. --- 9. Look What You Made Me Do Released: 2017 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 1 Total UK chart units: 1.2 million Taylor's first-ever UK Number 1 single was the incendiary lead single from her braggadocious sixth album Reputation, where she attempted to burn it all down and start again. Helped along by an accompanying video packed with in-jokes and laden with references to her internet presence and numerous celebrity spats, Look What You Made Me Do went straight in at Number 1 in 2017, staying at the top for two weeks. As of 2022, it has chart sales of 1.3 million, and it's been streamed over 108 million times in the UK alone. In total, it's her seventh biggest song on the Official Singles Chart. --- 8. I Don't Wanna Live Forever (with Zayn) Released: 2016 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 5 Total UK chart units: 1.2 million This slinky link-up with Zayn, coming high off his Pillowtalk success, was the soundtrack for the second Fifty Shades of Grey film and while it wasn't an instant a classic as, say, Love Me Like You Do, it's high showing in this list is proof enough that even two years off from 1989's success, Tay was still riding the wave of her Imperial Phase. --- 7. Style Released: 2014 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 21 Total UK chart units: 1.3 million Endlessly elegant, the third single from 1989 was an instant fan favourite and another mercurial pop moment thanks to Taylor's partnership with Max Martin and Shellback. Riffing heavily off the post-disco movement and the music of dance acts like Daft Punk, Style feels at times like the darker sister of another pitch-perfect Max Martin production from the same era, Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. Despite its popularity with fans and critics, Style only reached Number 21 on the Official Singles Chart, although time has done little to dull its shine. It's now Taylor's 10th most popular track in the UK, with 872,000 chart sales in total, plus 66 million streams. --- 6. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Released; 2012 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 4 Total UK chart units: 1.3 million Taylor Swift was always going to make pop music. The first single from Red was her biggest indication at the time that her eye was swiftly moving on from country, but the jubilant We Are Never Ever... still comfortably flits in-between the two genres that interest her most. The first official time she collaborated with Max Martin and Shellback (who would go on to produce much of 1989 and reputation), We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together is so un-serious, and all the better for it. --- 5. Anti-Hero Released: 2022 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 1 Total UK chart units: 1.5 million Much of the surprise of Anti-Hero isn't in its sound (an 80s-influenced synth-pop song produced with Jack Antonoff) but in its lyrical content. It, like much of Midnights, shows Taylor putting forward some of her most self-analytical work to date. This time, there is no problem to contend with except her own inner neuroses. --- 4. I Knew You Were Trouble Released: 2012 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 2 Total UK chart units: 1.7 million Better known now for it's bone-shattering EDM trop, I Knew You Were Trouble was certainly of its time, but it's also proof that Taylor's partnership with Max and Shellback allowed her to experiment in musical corners she would have been hesitant to before. --- 3. Love Story Released: 2008 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 2 Total UK chart units: 1.9 million Taylor’s breakout hit in the UK was very nearly a Number 1, peaking at Number 2 behind Kelly Clarkson’s My Life Would Suck Without You (what a time to be alive). As the title suggests, the song is a modern-day re-telling of Romeo and Juliet...without all the duels and accidental deaths. It's sweet, saccharine, and has a happy ending, as all good fairytales should. As it stands, Love Story is Taylor's third most successful single in the UK - with total chart sales of 1.68 million (sorry, Kelly). In the UK alone, it's been streamed over 109 million times. It's a Love Story, baby just say yes... --- 2. Blank Space Released: 2014 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 4 Total UK chart units: 2 million Blank Space, the self-aware second single from her 1989 album, saw Taylor claim control of her perceived public persona. Co-written with Max Martin and Shellback, the track served as a tongue-in-cheek take on the media's incessant interest in her personal relationships, heavily influenced by the icy minimalist production on Lorde's Pure Heroine. Her third-biggest track in the UK to date, Blank Space boasts a total of 1.63 million chart units so far. The single's also racked up 117 million streams in the UK and counting. --- 1. Shake It Off Released: 2014 Official Singles Chart peak: Number 2 Total UK chart units: 2.8 million Nothing was left to change on the lead single from 1989, which was marketed as Taylor's first pure-pop anthem. Reuniting her with Max Martin and Shellback, there's not a guitar or a country twang in sight for this peppy statement of intent, clearly influenced by Toni Basil's Hey Mickey. No longer concerned about penning songs about past lovers (a trope Taylor would magnificently parody in follow-up single Blank Space), Shake It Off is quite simple in its messaging and world view - the players gonna play, the haters gonna hate, baby you just gotta shake shake shake shake... It's fitting then, that Taylor's first single as the biggest pop star in the world is also her biggest single in the UK. Shake It Off has amassed a massive 2.4 million UK chart units, including 177 million streams. It easily becomes her most popular song ever in the UK. The biggest surprise? That the track never reached Number 1, instead being held off by Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass (how very 2014!). 2022 also saw Shake It Off claim another impressive string to its bow - becoming the first song in two years (and potentially one of the last ever) to cross the coveted 1 million pure sales mark in the UK. === The Top 40: 01. Shake It Off [2.8 million] 02. Blank Space [2 million] 03. Love Story [1.9 million] 04. I Knew You Were Trouble [1.7 million] 05. Anti-Hero [1.5 million] 06. We Are Never Getting Back Together [1.3 million] 07. Style [1.3 million] 08. I Don't Wanna Live Forever (w/ ZAYN) [1.2 million] 09. Look What You Made Me Do [1.2 million] 10. Wildest Dreams [1.1 million] --- 11. Bad Blood (feat. Kendrick Lamar) 12. Cruel Summer 13. Lover 14. Everything Has Changed (feat. Ed Sheeran) 15. ME! (feat. Brendon Urie) 16. You Need To Calm Down 17. You Belong With Me 18. cardigan 19. 22 20. All Too Well (Taylor's Version) --- 21. Delicate 22. ...Ready For It? 23. Don't Blame Me 24. willow 25. exile (feat. Bon Iver) 26. august 27. The Man 28. Lavender Haze 29. Gorgeous 30. Karma --- 31. Enchanted 32. Getaway Car 33. Paper Rings 34. the 1 35. champagne problems 36. Love Story (Taylor's Version) 37. Out Of The Woods 38. End Game (feat. Ed Sheeran & Future) 39. Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey) 40. Welcome To New York ARTICLE FROM OCC IS HERE
November 1, 20231 yr Author So the article seems to be the same as the last time they did this lmao BUT the sales seem to have been updated and they've expanded to top 40 instead of top 20. :wub:
