U.K. CHARTS: TAYLOR DOMINATES

Taylor Swift has scored the U.K. Official Charts double, topping albums with Midnights (EMI) and singles with “Anti-Hero.” The album has posted the biggest first-week sales and streaming numbers of the year.

Midnights is Swift’s fastest-selling album by far in Blighty, shifting 204k in seven days—more than double her previous personal best of 90.3k with 1989 in 2014. It's handily surpassed the first-week sales of 113k achieved by Harry Styles with Harry’s House (Columbia). This is, in fact, the biggest first week since Adele’s 30 (Columbia) logged 261k in November 2021. Midnights is the year’s biggest seller to date.

Swift also scores big on streaming: Midnights counted 72.5m streams in seven days, which is, again, the most for an album first week this year.

With nine consecutive #1 albums under her belt, Tay has overtaken Madonna to set a new all-time Official Chart record, generating the fastest succession of nine U.K. #1 albums of any female artist. She scored her first 10 years ago with Red, while it took Madonna 21 years to reach the same tally.

Elsewhere on albums, Arctic Monkeys’ The Car (Domino) is #2 after generating more than 100k. Loyle Carner’s Hugo (EMI) debuts at #3 and Simple Minds’ Direction of the Heart (BMG) reaches #4. A 25th anniversary release of Kylie Minogue’s Impossible Princess (BMG) surpasses its original peak of #10 at #5 today.

On the Official Singles Chart, Swift has three tracks in the Top 5. “Anti-Hero” is her second U.K. #1, followed by “Lavender Haze” at #3 and Lana Del Rey collaboration “Snow on the Beach” at #4. She is the first female artist in nine years to top both charts; the last was Miley Cyrus in 2013.

Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ long-running #1, “Unholy” (Capitol), has moved down to #2. “I’m Good (Blue)” (Parlophone) by David Guetta and Bebe Rexha completes the Top 5.

Oliver Tree & Robin Schultz’s viral hit, “Miss You” (Atlantic), rises one to a new height of #8. Arctic Monkeys have two tracks in the Top 40: “Body Paint” is up 38 to #22 and “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am” debuts at #23.