Taylor Swift on Australia’s ARIA album chart: total domination with 56 weeks on top
New data puts the US artist’s enduring popularity in stark relief: Taylor Swift is the clear leader among all recording artists in the 40-year history of ARIA tracking the album charts.
If you have glanced at the weekly albums chart published in recent years, there’s a fair chance one artist’s name has held the top spot: Taylor Swift.
Last year, the US pop singer-songwriter spent 17 weeks at No. 1 with three different album releases. In the past five years, she has issued eight albums – four containing new material, four re-records of earlier work – and notched 31 weeks overall at No. 1 since 2019.
Exclusive data provided by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) to The Weekend Australian, however, puts her enduring popularity in stark relief.
Simply put, Swift is the clear leader among all recording artists in the 40-year history of ARIA tracking the national music sales charts.
Her career tally at No. 1 now sits at 56 weeks overall for 12 albums, well ahead of her nearest rival, John Farnham, who has earned 50 weeks at No. 1 across nine albums.
Farnham’s last solo chart-topper was The Last Time in 2002, while his collaboration albums with Olivia Newton-John hit No. 1 in both 2015 and 2016.
Other contenders near the top include the British singer-songwriters Adele (47 weeks for three albums) and Ed Sheeran (45 weeks for seven albums), as well as US pop artist Pink (44 weeks for seven albums), whose Australian stadium tour began in Sydney on Friday night.
It wasn’t until 2010 that Swift achieved her first No. 1 on the Australian chart with Speak Now, her third album.
Since then, her dominance has been absolute: all 11 of her subsequent releases have reached No. 1.
That trend continues at present with 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which has spent 14 weeks in the top spot, according to the most recent ARIA chart published on Friday afternoon – which puts it on par with her best-charting album, 2022’s Midnights.
Annabelle Herd, who took up the job of ARIA chief executive three years ago, has had a front-row seat to Swift’s uncanny ability to capture millions of streaming listeners across Australia each week, as well as thousands of vinyl buyers.
“Her dominance of the albums chart is just reflective of the fact that she has taken over the world,” said Herd.
“It’s a global phenomenon: we’re seeing it not just in our charts, but everywhere, and I think the chart success is reflective of how massive she is in popular culture generally at the moment.
“To the extent that the charts are reflecting what’s actually happening, I think it’s pretty accurate: you can’t escape Taylor, and you haven’t really been able to escape her for many years, and that’s because she’s so good at what she does,” Herd said. “You’d have to say now she’s more than a once-in-a-generation artist: she’s got to be one of the best ever.”
Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour soon touches down in Australia, starting in Melbourne next Friday. With her daughters, aged 17 and 15, Herd will be among the 630,000 or so people in attendance across seven concerts.
“I battled for tickets, just like everybody else; I spent hours and hours looking at the worm on the screen – but it was worth it,” said the ARIA CEO.
“For my daughters, it’s so great to see that it’s a woman who is absolutely dominating the music industry globally at the moment. I think that’s such a great message for all young kids.”
Said Herd: “I imagine, once she’s done her thing and achieved total domination of Australia, she’ll move on, and we can move on to talking more about Australian artists (who) are also releasing incredible music at the moment. But I don’t think anybody could deny Taylor her moment here: she’s earned it.”
