Taylor Swift has always made the Hot 100 her home address, rather than a place of vacation, and Opalite is a new chapter to her career. It is the 14th No. 1 in her life, a list that includes, but is not limited to, pop spectacle, deep-cut fan anthems, and era-defining diversion points.
The diversity of the run is the stickiness of it, a mix of early country-pop crossover dynamism, stadium-pop perfection, pandemic-surprise drops, the momentum of the era of rerecordings, and a streaming-age supremacy that can be turned on an album release to a chart-takeover.
It is all the Swift songs that have made it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and most importantly, the piece of the formula that assisted each moment to happen.
1. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”
The first Hot 100 chart topper by Swift was a high-voltage country-pop crossover, issued as the title track of the album, Red. It rocketed up the list, placing it at No. 72 then the top of the list in its 2nd week and remained at the top of the list three weeks, proclaiming a new level of mainstream penetration.
2. “Shake It Off”
The opening of the launch was the release, which basically stated: It was the first No. 1 debut of a Swift record on the Hot 100, titled Shake It Off. Its radio-built simplicity, which was bright, made the pop pivot a mass singalong which lasted four weeks.
3. “Blank Space”
Blank Space rose to the top-strategically, as it was at position No.18 and then it rose to the top at position 1 and held on that position seven weeks. It was also historic as it was the first to overpower the reign of Shake It Off and Swift became the first woman to supplant herself as the number one record.
4. “Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar)
The Kendrick Lamar remix was like a blockbuster release: it went up the chart by 53 positions to number 1 following the release of the video at the Billboard Music Awards and becoming the most watched on Vevo in a day. It spent one week on the top of the Hot 100, but the time was loud.
5. “Look What You Made Me Do”
With the era of Reputation exploding, the lead single became an immediate No. 1 after its first week of tracking and topped the shelves in three weeks. The video also had its own headline, and the video earned 43.2 million views within the first day.
6. “Cardigan”
Folklore came on one day notice, and Cardigan appeared with it-then it opened at No. 1. The recording put Swift in the position of the first artist to debut at the top of the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 in the same week.
7. “Willow”
Swift used the surprise-drop format again with the release of Evermore and Willow came out at number one as the album also came out as the top in Billboard 200. It spent a week at the top sustained by strength in its release week.
8. “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)”
The 10-minute fan favorite finally had a moment, as it debuted at the top of the Hot 100 and it was the longest song to ever make it there. This was a record of the previous American Pie (Parts I and II) which had 8:37 on record. The chart reign: one week.
9. “Anti-Hero”
Swift had found a new endurance winner in the period preceding Showgirl: Anti-Hero, top dog during eight weeks. Swift also was the first artist in the history of its release to take the entire Hot 100 top 10, becoming a complete portrait of the chart in its debut frame.
10. “Cruel Summer”
A slow-burn effect: it was originally an album song in 2019 on the album Lover that made it to No. 1 in 2023 following a streaming boost as a part of the Eras Tour and a subsequent radio push. This was rewarded with a four-week reign and a reminder of the fact that hits may be time-released.
11. “Is It Over Now?”
Track 1989 (Taylor version) vault also entered the No. 1 spot and pushed Cruel Summer out of the top spot. The accomplishment earned Swift another true rarity: the only woman to take the place of herself at No. 1-now two times.
12. “Fortnight” (feat. Post Malone)
As the first single to be released under The Tortured Poets Department, Fortnight was released immediately to the top and lasted two weeks. The identical release schedule put Swift in the entire top 10 again-as well as crammed the top 14 with Poets songs.
13. “The Fate of Ophelia”
The first single of The Life of a Showgirl was Swift longest running No. 1 of 10 weeks. It became her longest-running Hot 100 single, topping its ninth week on the top, and pushing out “Anti-Hero.”
14. “Opalite”
Opalite is the finishing touch-the latest No. 1 of Swift, and her second Hot 100 topper of The Life of a Showgirl). It ranked at the top in the tracking week that promoted it reach 168,000 in the U.S. (Feb. 13-19), 11.4 million official streams, and 58.9 million radio audience impressions. Swift celebrated this on Instagram: This is the first time I ever had two Hot 100 number ones off of one album since my album 1989 was released in 2014, almost a dozen years ago!
Throughout the entire list, the through-line is that of adaptability: the No. 1s of Swift are the result of classic lead-single releases, surprise releases, the mobilization of fans during the rerecording period, and the new hybrid formula of streaming, radio, and sales. The list of hits in the catalog has been like a changing playbook with the introduction of Opalite in the lineup: it continues to create new ways to address the moment without repeating the identical one.
