Taylor Swift’s Life Of A Showgirl storms UK charts, sets new records

LONDON – American singer Taylor Swift set records and topped the British music charts on Oct 10, with her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl, powering straight to No.1 and three of its tracks also taking the top spots.

The 35-year-old released her 12th studio album on Oct 3, and in less than 11 hours, it became Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day in 2025.

Despite mixed reviews, Swift’s latest offering has been lapped up by her huge global fan base.

In Britain, it became her 14th No.1 album, “securing the biggest opening week of the year in just three days... (and ending) the week on a staggering 423,000 combined chart units”, the Official Charts Company said.

Its first week of release was the biggest in Britain since English singer Ed Sheeran’s Divide in 2017 and the biggest opening week for an international album in Britain this century, it added.

The Life Of A Showgirl set records for different formats, including the most first-week album downloads in 2025 and the most British album streams in a week, with streaming contributing 84,000 stream-equivalent sales.

For vinyl, it became Britain’s fastest-selling album this century with 126,000 sales, and the biggest one-week vinyl sale since modern chart records began in 1994.

The album’s opening track, The Fate Of Ophelia, topped the British singles chart, followed by songs Opalite and Elizabeth Taylor at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.

“Her list of achievements this week is extraordinary, not least the fact that The Life Of A Showgirl has just registered comfortably the biggest first week in the UK of her career,” Official Charts chief executive Martin Talbot said in a statement.

In Australia, Swift set another record, with the album’s 12 songs taking the top 12 positions on the Aria singles chart. She also topped the Aria albums chart.

She is expected to break more records and top charts elsewhere, including in the United States. REUTERS