Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ Just Broke Another Chart Record
Taylor Swift released her album Midnights on Oct. 22, 2022. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Swift also made history when 10 songs from the album debuted in the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100. While Midnights has been out for months, the album is still making an impact on music charts.
Taylor Swift set a record on a Billboard chart
While the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Hot 100 are the most popular metrics when it comes to judging music, Billboard’s Artist 100 chart gives more insight into an artist’s popularity.
According to Billboard, the chart “measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.”
On Jan. 4, Billboard published a report that Swift has spent 59 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart.
According to the publication, “Swift has now ruled Artist 100 charts dated in eight separate years: 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, becoming the first artist to achieve the feat since the survey began in 2014.”
Multiple of Taylor Swift’s albums are charting
Currently, Swift’s album Midnights is ranked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 behind SZA’s album SOS. While Midnights is still ranked in the top five spots of the chart, multiple of the singer’s albums are present on the Billboard 200.
According to Billboard, “Swift places eight albums on the latest Billboard 200, the most among all acts: Midnights, Lover (No. 44), Folklore (No. 48), Red (Taylor’s Version) (No. 54), Evermore (No. 55), 1989 (No. 85), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (No. 121) and Reputation (No. 147).”
“Anti-Hero,” the lead single from Midnights and spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to Billboard, the most recent iteration of the Billboard Hot 100 has “Anti-Hero” at No. 8 and Swift’s song “Lavender Haze” at No. 64.
Showbiz Cheat Sheet reviewed ‘Midnights’
In general, Midnights is considered to have received acclaim from most critics. An overwhelming number of publications gave the album perfect or near-perfect scores.
Following the release of Midnights, Showbiz Cheat Sheet reviewed the album and assigned it a score of 3.5 out of 5 stars, which is considered a “Good” review.
In the review, Showbiz praised Swift’s vocals on Midnights and considers it a “solid” album, but “not the singer’s best.” The biggest criticism of Midnights falls on Swift’s release of Midnights – 3am Edition, an extended version with seven new songs, just hours after releasing the standard version.
“Unfortunately, the seven songs on Midnights – 3am Edition are some of Swift’s best work, with multiple surpassing the caliber of the standard version,” the review reads. “This makes Midnights as a whole feel like a missed opportunity and an unfulfilled listen, keeping the album from achieving greatness.”
While Showbiz did not catch on to the hype of Midnights, it’s clear fans of Swift have based on how popular the album has remained.
