Taylor Takeover! Taylor Swift dominates the UK’s Official Singles and Albums Chart with the biggest opening week of 2023 so far

She may have been born in 1989, but Taylor Swift is having the year of her life in 2023, scoring the Official Chart Double today with the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). 

The re-recording of her 2014 pop magnum opus, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) debuts at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart with a massive 184,000 chart units, more than double that of the original 1989’s opening-week sales of 90,000, according to Official Charts Company data.  

But that’s just the start. Taylor also claims the biggest opening-week for any album this year, blasting past previous record holder Lewis Capaldi and Broken By Desire to Be Heavenly Sent, which accumulated 95,000 chart units in its first week on sale. 

Overall, it becomes Taylor’s landmark 11th chart-topping album in the UK, following Red (2012), 1989 (2014), reputation (2017), Lover (2019), folklore (2020), evermore (2020), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021), Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021), Midnights (2022) and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (2023).   

MORE: Taylor Swift's Official Top 40 biggest songs in the UK

1989 (Taylor’s Version) outperforms the rest of the Top 10 combined this week, and extends Taylor’s own record as the woman with the most UK Number 1 albums this century, as well as the female to achieve 11 consecutive Number 1 albums in the quickest time (11 years precisely). 

Taylor is still the female with the second-most Number 1 albums in UK chart history. Only Madonna, with 12, has more. 

With almost 62,000 copies sold on vinyl, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) scoops the title of fastest-selling vinyl album of 2023 so far, and lands at Number 1 on this week’s Official Vinyl Chart. 

See the full list of artists with the most Official Number 1 albums here. 

Today, Taylor scores her third UK Number 1 single with Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) debuting at the top of the Official Singles Chart with 4.9 million streams, making it the most-streamed track of the week in the UK. 

Completing a trio of Number 1s for Taylor, it joins previous chart-toppers Look What You Made Me Do (2017) and Anti-Hero (2022).  

Two more Taylor singles are also present in the Top 10 today, with vault tracks Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) and “Slut!” (Taylor’s Version) reaching Number 2 and Number 5 respectively. 

Official Chart Round-up 

Albums 

Electronic four-piece Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) claim their highest-charting studio album across a career spanning 45 years this week, with Bauhaus Staircase (2). Matching the peak of their 1988 hits compilation The Best of OMD, Bauhaus Staircase becomes their eighth Top 10 album, and first in six years, and also tops this week’s Official Record Store Chart - the best-seller in UK independent record shops over the past seven days. 

At Number 4, Duran Duran earn their 12th Top 10 LP with Danse Macabre (4) - Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor’s 16th studio album. 

Who We Used to Be sees Hampshire-born singer-songwriter James Blunt score his eighth consecutive Top 5 album (5). Meanwhile, Tottenham multi-hyphenate CASISDEAD claims his first-ever Top 10 entry with Famous Last Words (7). 

Alfie Boe earns an 11th Top 10 LP with Open Arms – The Symphonic Songbook this week (10), while Scottish rock outfit Simple Minds are a new entry at Number 23 with New Gold Dream – Live from Paisley Abbey. Maryland export Brent Faiyaz (real name Christopher Brent Wood) celebrates his second UK Top 40 with Larger Than Life (25). 

Barking-born singer-songwriter Billy Bragg (real name Stephen William Bragg) secures his 12th Top 40 solo LP with hits compilation The Roaring Forty (1983-2023) (29).  Meanwhile breakout indie pop supergroup FIZZ, comprising Orla Gartland, Dodie Clark, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke, make their Official Chart debut with first full-length collection The Secret to Life this week (31).  

Gaslight Anthem enjoy their first Top 40 album in nine years with History Books (33) and, finally, Irish singer-songwriter Daniel O’Donnell boasts a new entry with How Lucky I Must Be (39). 

Singles 

Elsewhere on this week’s Official Singles Chart we have something of a Halloween takeover, with several spooky tracks present in the wider Top 40.  

Danny Elfman’s This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas (14), Michael Jackson’s Thriller (20), Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters (21) and Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s Monster Mash (29) all see a surge into the Top 40 this week. 

Drake, Sexyy Red and SZA continue to rise with Rich Baby Daddy (15), as Chase & Status, Hedex and ArrDee jump two spots with Liqour & Cigarettes this week (18). 

Doja Cat’s Agora Hills reaches a new speak of Number 26, as does Tems’ rising hit Me & U, up to Number 34, while Wheatus’s classic Teenage Dirtbag re-enters the UK Top 40 at Number 38; its first time on the Official Singles Chart Top 40 since 2001. The track originally peaked at Number 2 that same year.