Taylor Swift has reached a new landmark on the Billboard 200. According to Billboard, The Life of a Showgirl logs a 14th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the chart dated Oct. 17, and that week gives Swift 100 total weeks in the top spot across her career.
The total makes her only the second act to hit 100 weeks at No. 1. The Beatles are the other, with 132 weeks. Billboard notes that the Billboard 200 has been published weekly on a regular basis since March 1956.
A deluxe edition drives the return
The Life of a Showgirl climbed from No. 21 to No. 1 on the previous week's chart, Billboard reported. The jump followed a deluxe reissue on Sept. 25 that added four previously unreleased songs. One of them, "Patient Zero," has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift now has 15 chart-topping albums. By Billboard's tally, the new release's 14 weeks trail only The Tortured Poets Department, which logged 17. Fearless and 1989, both in their original versions, spent 11 weeks each at No. 1. Folklore had eight and Red had seven.
How the rest of the list stacks up
Several other Swift titles sit in the middle of the tally. Speak Now, Midnights and 1989 (Taylor's Version) each held No. 1 for six weeks, and evermore and reputation each held it for four. Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Speak Now (Taylor's Version) spent two weeks apiece. Red (Taylor's Version) and Lover each spent one.
Beyond Swift and The Beatles, the next name on the all-time list is Elvis Presley. He has the third-most weeks at No. 1 among all acts, with 67, according to Billboard.
Why it matters
The Beatles were last on top with the greatest hits collection 1, which spent its eighth and final week there on the chart dated Feb. 3, 2001. Swift's 100th week puts a current act beside them in a category that, by Billboard's count, had no other members. Her gap over Presley is also large, since she now holds 33 more weeks than the third-place act.
Billboard says it will post the full chart on its website on Oct. 13. The chart ranks albums by equivalent album units from Luminate, which combine album sales, track sales and streaming.
Reporting sources: Billboard, “Taylor Swift Joins The Beatles as Only Acts With 100 Weeks at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart”.