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Taylor Swift has now become the biggest female artist of all time in the UK, with the most UK No 1 albums ever. The record means she has officially surpassed Madonna.
The rise and cultural dominance of Taylor Swift continues with no real end in sight.
She has just broken Madonna’s record as the female artist with the most No 1 albums in the UK thanks to the release of her new live album ‘Lover (Live From Paris)’ for Valentine’s Day. It is her thirteenth chart-topper and also puts her on equal footing with Elvis Presley as an international artist with the most No 1s.
Currently, the Rolling Stones are ahead of her with 14 and Robbie Williams and the Beatles are joint first place with 15.
‘Lover (Live From Paris)’ is Taylor’s fourth live album, featuring all performance-based versions of songs from the studio album of the same name. It originally released for Valentine’s Day in 2023, but a new heart-shaped double vinyl version has pushed it to the top two years later.
The move is part of a long and complicated history of vinyl releases from Swift, who often pushes out multiple versions of the same record, each with different songs and unique gimmicks to encourage fans to purchase as many as possible.
A few years back, Jack White took issue with this practice and argued that it squeezed resources away from smaller artists.
Constant reissuing of albums around crucial holidays also stifles music charts and takes potential commercial success away from acts that can’t afford to pump out thousands of vinyl of a reissue of a remastered album.
So, while Taylor’s success is undoubtedly impressive, it doesn’t come without its caveats. She is very much the pop voice for a generation of listeners and has achieved unimaginable success on nearly every metric possible. We’re not trying to take away from that huge feat.
