Get excited, Swifties! After a long wait, karma made its final move, and Taylor Swift succeeded in breaking Kanye West’s No. 1 streak. The Bad Love singer climbed the Billboard chart, claiming the first spot with her album The Tortured Poets Department, as reported by TMZ.
Who is winning the Billboard Charts?
Taylor’s The Tortured Poets Department has been on No.1 on the Billboard 200 for about 14 weeks. According to Luminate, it has 142,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. for the week ending on August 8, 2024. The last album to have spent at least 14 weeks at No. 1 was Adele’s 21, as per Billboard.
Closely following Taylor’s album, on No.2, is Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2 with 107,000 equivalent album units. This is the thirteenth time West’s album has charted at No. 2. However, it seems he has lost in his ongoing battle with Taylor Swift and being No.2 will not be healing his wounds. After being on top of the chart for the past 11 times, this time, he has been overtaken, and his streak has ended as The Tortured Poets Department revels in success.
This week, Taylor has topped the Billboard 200 for 83 weeks in her career. She shares the new record with the late Elvis Presley, who followed after her with 67 weeks on the charts amongst all solo artists.
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What does this mean for Taylor Swift and Kanye West?
Taylor and West have had years of rivalry beginning in 2009. During the VMA award show, Kanye stole Swift’s limelight, declaring it was Beyoncé who deserved the award instead. The incident struck a war between the artists and the arena became the music industry. Fans also split up in support of their favourite artists.
Another major incident that sparked a rivalry between the artists was when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West recorded Taylor Swift on a private phone call. The recording claimed that Taylor had consented to Kanye calling her a “b**ch” in his song Famous. However, Swift said she had permitted no such thing. This incident enraged many fans, and Taylor had to face major backlash for supposedly lying. Kim Kardashian even called her a “snake” on social media.
The recording scandal nearly ruined Swift’s career, and the artist even told TIME, “You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.” The battle between Kanye and Taylor has been active ever since.
Also Read | Did Taylor Swift just subtly shade Kanye West after he name dropped her and Travis Kelce in Vultures 2?
Taylor has since released her album Reputation, which featured songs like Look What You Made Me Do, This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, and more that targeted ideas of revenge against Kanye and Kim. Other albums featured songs like Karma, Fortnight, and more related to the same issue.
Meanwhile, Kanye recently alluded to Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. In his new song Lifestyle (Demo), West mentioned, “I twist my Taylor spliffs tight at the end like Travis Kelce.”
As reported by The Daily Mail, Kelce’s father criticised Kanye for the lyrics on his Facebook page and wrote, “Mental illness on full display.” Even though karma hit Kanye’s reputation badly, fans speculate that the fight might not be over yet, and their curiosity seems to have no cure.
