Taylor Swift ties with Madonna in historic record after releasing The Tortured Poets Department

Taylor Swift is officially sitting pretty alongside the Queen of Pop. Swift has tied with Madonna in a historic record following the release of The Tortured Poets Department.

The “Cruel Summer” singer has officially tied with Madonna for the most number-one albums in the UK by a female artist with her divisive 11th album, which appears to shout out queer boygenius member Lucy Dacus and actor Clara Bow.

Following the album’s release on 19 April, The Tortured Poets Department marked the first album to receive over 200 million streams on Spotify in one day. The album even surpassed Swift’s last album, the Grammy history-making Midnights, which previously held the record for the most-streamed album on Spotify in a single day, with 185 million streams.

Now, both Madonna and Swift both have 12 number-one albums in the country.

Swift’s achievement at tying Madge’s record was helped by the re-release of her albums Fearless and Speak Now, both of which didn’t hit number one originally, but did in their re-released “Taylor’s Version” formats.

Still, The Eras Tour superstar has managed to grab 12 number-one albums in her 18-year discography, as opposed to Madonna achieving 12 top spots in her 40-year career.

The Tortured Poets Department is already 2024’s fastest-selling album so far and has already hit the top spot in the UK this week, according to Official Charts.

With the re-release of her 2017 album Reputation reportedly set for release this year, it looks increasingly likely that Swift will surpass Madonna’s historic record altogether.

Despite Swift’s latest project garnering staggering streaming numbers, the record has also fiercely divided critics, with some calling it an “instant classic” and others dubbing it “underwhelming and clunky”.

As for the content matter, fans have speculated that the album details the demise of her relationship with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy. Their relationship came to light in May 2023, but appeared to come to an end in July of the same year, according to reports.

Listeners believe that multiple songs in the album – including “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” – and even her entire discography in general could be about the “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)” hitmaker.