Taylor Swift‘s “The Tortured Poets Department” has returned to the top spot on the Billboard 200 (dated Aug. 10), making this the album’s 13th nonconsecutive week at No. 1. (The number 13 is coincidentally the pop star’s lucky number.)
Swift’s 11th album, released April 19, spent its first 12 weeks atop the albums chart until Eminem’s “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)” unseated “Tortured Poets” in late July. Her album fell to No. 4 for two weeks.
“Tortured Poets” reclaimed the No. 1 spot after earning 71,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 1 (down 3%), according to Luminate. The last album to spend at least 13 weeks at No. 1 was Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time,” Billboard reports, which scored 19 total nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 between March 2023 and March of this year.
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Prior to Eminen’s 12th album dethroning “Tortured Poets,” Swift’s album broke the record previously set by Whitney Houston’s “Whitney” for the most initial consecutive weeks at No. 1 from an album by a female artist. Houston’s 1987 album spent its first 11 weeks on top of the chart before dropping off.
Elsewhere on the latest Billboard 200, Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” reached its best chart position to date, climbing from No. 8 to No. 4. Meanwhile, Stray Kids dropped from the top spot to No. 6 with their new LP “ATE.”
Also in the top 10, Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” nabbed the No. 2 spot while Zach Bryan’s “Great American Bar Scene” sits at No. 3. Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” rounded out the top five, and Charli XCX’s “Brat” returned to the top 10, rising from No. 14 to No. 9.
