Taylor Swift breaks record for female artist with most UK Number 1 albums as she knocks Madonna off top spot.

Editor Stephen Hill  14th February 2025 

Taylor Swift has risen to become the female artist with the most UK Number 1 albums, surpassing the legendary Madonna. 

With the re-release of her 2019 record, Lover (Live From Paris), the 35-year-old singer has achieved her 13th Number 1, while Madonna previously held the title with 12. Now, Taylor stands alongside Elvis Presley as the artist with the most Number 1 albums in UK chart history.  

Lover has made history as the first album to reach Number 1 solely from sales, without any streams, since Taylor's own Reputation in 2017, according to the Official Charts Company. Originally released on vinyl in 2023, the album has returned to the charts with a brand new heart-shaped 2LP vinyl version just in time for Valentine's Day. Martin Talbot, Chief Executive Officer of the Official Charts, expressed his awe:

 "If we thought Taylor Swift would peak in 2024, with her domination of the charts during the summer, we couldn't have been more wrong."  

He acknowledged the magnitude of her accomplishment in surpassing Madonna's Albums Chart record, saying, "What an amazing achievement to surpass the Albums Chart record of Madonna, such a huge music icon." After the release of The Tortured Poets Department in April 2024, Taylor was tied with Madonna with 12 chart-topping albums. 

The 14-time Grammy winner broke records following her highly anticipated release, a heartfelt album thought to reference her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn and The 1975's Matty Healy.  On its release day, April 19, her album made history as the first in Spotify history to achieve more than 300 million streams in a single day, marking the biggest opening week in seven years. 

The album shifted 270,000 UK chart units in its first week, surpassing her previous record of 204,000 in seven days from her 2022 album Midnights. Taylor achieved her 12 chart-toppers in less than 12 years, a stark contrast to the 14 years it took The Beatles to do the same, with their first Number 1 album being Please Please Me in 1963 and their 12th, The Beatles At Hollywood Bowl, in 1977.  

In another remarkable accomplishment, Taylor achieved her third UK chart double for the third consecutive year. Her single Fortnight, featuring rapper Post Malone, soared to number one in the singles chart alongside her album. In 2022, she topped the charts with Midnights and its lead single Anti-Hero, repeating the feat in 2023 with 1989 (Taylor's Version) and the re-recorded Is It Over Now? The Bad Blood singer was celebrated as 2023's biggest-selling global recording artist, topping the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) chart