by Anton Dedvukaj
On October 21, Taylor Swift released her long-awaited tenth studio album, Midnights, her first set of new material in nearly two years. Although Swift did release two re-recorded albums in 2021 and 2022 which both included additional songs ‘from the vault’. Since the album’s announcement at the VMAs back in August, the release has been eagerly anticipated by fans, and it culminated in Swift achieving an unprecedented feat on this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Thanks to ten tracks from Midnights, Swift becomes the first artist in Hot 100 history to hold all of the top 10 positions.
This is especially significant given that previously, no artist had ever held more than the top five at a time – The Beatles did this in 1964 and Drake matched it in 2021. Additionally, no artist had ever had more than nine songs in the top ten at a time, as Drake was only able to get that many last September following Certified Lover Boy’s release.
So, what was her secret? What was it about this particular album that helped Swift claim this monumental chart record? Will any of it last beyond this week? To answer these questions, I employed the help of two self-proclaimed Swifties – seniors Theo Levin and Jordyn Eckers – to help understand why this happened.
When asked why he thought Swift was able to pull this off, Levin answered that it was because “Swifties may be the strongest army in the world now that BTS is on hiatus”. Eckers thought slightly differently, crediting the album’s success to its pre-release hype. “[Midnights] was an album that everyone was excited for, so everyone at least tried to listen to it”, she told The Paw Print.
In addition to the album’s success, lead single “Anti-Hero” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 with a massive opening on streaming and sales. Interestingly, it would have been neither Levin nor Eckers’ first choice for the album’s big hit. Levin said that he “thought ‘Karma’ should have been the No. 1 single instead”, while Eckers would have preferred either that song or “You’re On Your Own, Kid”. “I loved ‘Anti-Hero’, but I feel like it was being set up as the big single with a chorus built to be a TikTok sound”, she said.
Finally, I asked them if they thought any of these ten songs would stick around and become chart hits. “I think about three songs will stick around”, said Levin. “‘Anti-Hero’ will obviously stick around, as well as ‘Karma’ and maybe ‘Snow on the Beach’”. Eckers seemed to concur. “‘Anti-Hero’ will stick around because it’s the single, and I think that ‘Lavender Haze’ and ‘Karma’ will also be hits because they are the most ‘pop’ songs on the album.” While it’s highly unlikely that Swift will retain the entire top ten for much longer as the streaming and sales numbers slip, this was still a major moment in chart history, and it has become apparent that Midnights has certainly resonated with the listening public.
