Taylor Swift Creates History With ‘Tortured Poets’

It’s a Taylor Swift sweep on Australia’s charts, as The Tortured Poets Department (via Universal) and “Fortnight” blast to No. 1.

Tortured Poets opens at the summit of the ARIA Albums Chart, published Friday, April 26, for her lucky 13th leader in these parts.

With that result, Swift boasts the most No. 1 albums for a solo female artist in ARIA chart history, moving ahead of Madonna to claim outright third place.

The all-time leader among acts with the most chart-topping albums in Australia is Jimmy Barnes with 15 as a solo act (he had another five with Cold Chisel), followed by the Beatles with 14.

Meanwhile, Swift scoops the chart double with “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone opening at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart, for her 12th leader on that tally. With a dozen singles chart leaders, Swift sits third on the all-time list of artists here, trailing Elvis Presley (No. 14) and The Beatles (No. 26).

At the same time, she becomes the first artist to hold the entire top 10 on the singles chart, and establishes a new mark for the most singles in the top 50, with 29 on the current frame. That creams the old record of 20, set by Drake in 2021 and by herself in 2023.

All 31 tracks from the double album impact the top 100, with “Robin” the lowest at No. 55. Three older songs sit in the top 100 (“Cruel Summer,” “Anti Hero” and “Lover”), meaning Swift has more than one-third of all songs in the top 100 (34). The previous record was 32 in one week, ARIA reports, held by Michael Jackson and Taylor.

Swift, whose The Eras Tour visited Australia in late 2023 for seven shows, is the only artist in ARIA history to replace themselves at No. 1 on the national albums tally. She has done it three times, including this month with Tortured Poets replacing Lover (earlier, in 2023, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) replaced Midnights; and in March 2024, Lover replaced Midnights).

According to a statement issued late Friday by Universal Music Australia, Tortured Poets is the most-sold album on vinyl in ARIA history, the market’s most-streamed LP in its opening week, and the biggest album debut since Adele’s 25 in 2015.

Remarkably, only two of the U.S. pop superstar’s studio or re-recorded albums have failed to reach the summit in Australia — her self-titled debut, Taylor Swift (peaking at No. 33 in 2006) and Fearless (No. 2 in 2008). Fearless (Taylor’s Version) did, however, climb the summit in 2021.

In non TTPD-related ARIA Chart news, Pearl Jam bows at No. 2 with Dark Matter, the Seattle rock legends’ 12th studio album. Pearl Jam has had eight No. 1 albums in Australia: Vs. in 1993, Vitalogy in 1994, No Code in 1996, Yield in 1998, Binaural in 2000, Riot Act in 2002, Backspacer in 2009 and Lightning Bolt in 2013. Dark Matter is the followup to 2020’s Gigaton, which peaked at No. 3.