Taylor Swift tops UK music chart

Taylor Swift has stormed to the top of the UK music charts with her new album 'The Life of a Showgirl', shattering multiple records and further cementing her status as pop's most unstoppable force.

The US singer-songwriter's 12th studio album, released last week, debuted at No 1 on Friday, while three of its tracks simultaneously occupied the top three positions on the UK singles chart. Within 11 hours of release, the album became Spotify's most-streamed album in a single day in 2025.

Despite mixed critical reviews, the record has been an overwhelming commercial triumph. According to the Official Charts Company, 'The Life of a Showgirl' became Swift's 14th UK No 1 album, achieving the biggest opening week of the year in just three days and ending the week with 423,000 combined chart units.

It marks Britain's biggest first-week performance since Ed Sheeran's 'Divide' in 2017, and the largest opening for an international artist in the UK this century. The album also broke records across multiple formats - including the most first-week album downloads of 2025, and the highest one-week streaming total, with 84,000 stream-equivalent sales.

Vinyl sales set another milestone: 126,000 copies sold, making it the UK's fastest-selling vinyl album this century and the biggest single-week vinyl tally since modern chart records began in 1994.

The album's opening track 'The Fate of Ophelia' claimed the top singles spot, followed by 'Opalite' and 'Elizabeth Taylor' at No 2 and No 3 respectively. "Her list of achievements this week is extraordinary," said Martin Talbot, CEO of the Official Charts Company. "It's comfortably the biggest first week of her career in the UK."

In Australia, all 12 tracks entered the ARIA singles chart's top 12, while Swift also topped the albums chart - with more records expected to fall globally in the days ahead. REUTERS