Taylor Swift Ties for Most No. 1s on Pop Airplay Chart Thanks to ‘Karma’
Taylor Swift ties the record for the most No. 1s in the history of Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, as “Karma” ascends to the top of the list dated July 22. The song becomes her 11th leader on the list, matching the marks of Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Rihanna.
(Justin Bieber, with 10 Pop Airplay No. 1s, is the only other act with a double-digit total.)
Meanwhile, dating to the Pop Airplay chart’s inception in October 1992, Swift and Maroon 5 are the only acts to have reigned in the 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s.
Here’s a recap of Swift’s 11 No. 1s on Pop Airplay, which measures songs’ weekly plays, as tabulated by Mediabase and provided to Billboard by Luminate, on over 150 U.S. mainstream top 40 radio stations.
Title, Weeks at No. 1, Year(s):
- “Karma,” one (to date), 2023
- “Anti-Hero,” three, 2022-23
- “Delicate,” one, 2018
- “Look What You Made Me Do,” one, 2017
- “Wildest Dreams,” two, 2015
- “Bad Blood” (feat. Kendrick Lamar), five, 2015
- “Style,” three, 2015
- “Blank Space,” six, 2014-15
- “Shake It Off,” two, 2014|
- “I Knew You Were Trouble,” seven, 2013
- “Love Story,” one, 2009
Also notably, “Karma” is the second Pop Airplay No. 1 from Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, following “Anti-Hero.” The set is her third to generate multiple leaders, after Reputation (two, 2017-18) and 1989 (five, 2014-15).
Contributing to airplay for “Karma,” which gained by 1% in plays on Pop Airplay reporters July 7-13, is its remix featuring Ice Spice. The song (all versions combined) hit a No. 2 high on the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100 in June. It originally debuted, at No. 9, on the Hot 100 100 dated Nov. 5, 2022, as Swift made history as the first artist to monopolize the chart’s entire top 10 in a single week, with all tracks all from Midnights.
Swift concurrently ascends to the Pop Airplay top 10 with “Cruel Summer,” which surges 14-8 as the list’s Greatest Gainer (up 29%). The song becomes her 22nd top 10, tying Maroon 5 for the second-most, after Rihanna’s 30.
Originally released on Swift’s 2019 album Lover and now being promoted by Republic Records as a new single, the song has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, as Swift has been performing it on her current The Eras Tour, her first in which she’s been able to spotlight songs from Lover, which was released shortly before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Each concert on the tour is divided into 10 acts, encompassing nine of her LPs; the Lover era kicks off the show, with “Cruel Summer” performed in the opening set.
The song becomes the third Pop Airplay top 10, and second-highest-charting, from Lover, joining lead single “Me!,” featuring Brendon Urie (No. 7 peak, May 2019), and “You Need to Calm Down” (No. 9, August 2019). The set spun off two other top 20 hits: the title track (No. 16, November 2019) and “The Man” (No. 20, April 2020).
Gary Trust
Billboard