American pop star Taylor Swift has once again topped the Billboard Hot 100. Her new single “Patient Zero” debuted at No. 1, giving the singer her 16th No. 1 hit of her career, Variety reports.
“Patient Zero“ ended, at least temporarily, the record-breaking run of country singer Ella Langley and her hit “Choosin’ Texas,” which dropped just one spot to No. 2.
Taylor Swift also dominated the rest of the top five. The four new songs released as part of the project “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore“, debuted in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. After “Patient Zero“ at the top and “Choosin’ Texas“ in second place, “Cleveland!“ at No. 3, “Babylon“ at No. 4 and “Pink Clouding“ at No. 5.
With the success of “Patient Zero“ Taylor Swift now has 16 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. She is only two names ahead of her in the history of the American chart: The Beatles with 20 hits at the top and singer Mariah Carey with 19.
The new single brought Taylor Swift another significant achievement. “Patient Zero“ is her tenth song to debut directly at number one on the Hot 100. The singer thus equals the record of Canadian rapper Drake, who previously held this achievement alone.
Taylor Swift is again No. 1 on albums
The success on the Hot 100 comes immediately after the return of “The Life of a Showgirl“ to the first position on the Billboard 200. The album again reached No. 1 for the first time since January and has now spent a total of 13 weeks at the top of the US album chart.
Billboard and Luminate report the original edition and the expanded version “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore“ as the same album.
The rest of the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 includes “Boston“ by Stella Lefty at No. 6, “Been by Now“ by country singer Morgan Wallen at No. 7 and “Hate That I Made You Love Me“ by pop star Ariana Grande at No. 8.
Singer Olivia Rodrigo takes the ninth position with “Stupid Song“, and the top ten is completed by “Dracula“ by Australian project Tame Impala and South Korean singer Jenny.
“Patient Zero“ has a strong chance of remaining at the top next week. Physical copies of the single, pre-ordered by fans, are starting to ship during the current reporting period, meaning their sales will be included in the song's second week results.
The coming weeks could also shake up historical records on the Billboard Hot 100. Ella Langley's “Choosin’ Texas“ remains in the running for the longest stay at number one with 24 weeks, while Mariah Carey's traditional December return with “All I Want for Christmas Is You“ could change the rankings again.