Taylor Swift Breaks One of Elvis Presley’s Most Impressive Records
As singer-songwriter Taylor Swift continues to break records, she has now taken the throne from the King. Swift took the record from Elvis Presley for the most weeks at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Previously, Presley spent 67 weeks at the top of the chart from 10 albums. Swift’s latest album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) has officially surpassed him with 68 weeks at the top.
The 34-year-old icon has had many of her albums atop the chart including Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), Reputation (2017), Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020) and Midnights (2022). Several of her re-recorded albums also reached the top and while she has now broken records from Presley, she still has a few records to beat. The Beatles spent 132 weeks in the No. 1 spot across 19 albums.
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Why does Swift have two versions of many of her albums? When she began her career, she signed to Big Machine Records in 2005. The contract expired in 2018 and she switched to Universal’s Republic Records. Big Machine eventually sold to private-equity group Ithaca Holdings, owned by music manager Scooter Braun. He sold her masters to another company called Shamrock Holdings for $300 million in 2019 and cashed in. Swift was not happy with the decision and decided to re-record those original six albums so that they would be under her control. So, if you play an early version of Swift’s songs instead of her re-recordings, you’re paying Braun, not Swift.
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Since she has been releasing not only new music but re-recordings and going on an epic tour, Swift has been cashing in and is now a billionaire. Her concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour also sold out in many cities and garnered ticket sales of $92.8 million in the U.S. With the release of Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Swift also broke a record previously set by Barbra Streisand for the first female artist with the most No. 1 albums in history. She is also the first living artist to chart five albums in the Top 10 at once.
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It seems that Swift is out to make history and isn’t stopping anytime soon. Tell us your opinion, love her or hate her? She sure is a hot topic right now, but do you think her legacy will live up to the greats like Presley and the Beatles? Comment below!
Queens of Country
November 2019
Get your toes-tapping as we give a nod to the queens of classic country music.
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