Taylor Swift equals Madonna’s record as the female artist with the most UK number one albums

Taylor Swift has equalled Madonna’s record as the female artist with the most UK number one albums in Official Chart history after her latest release.

The singer-songwriter released her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on 19 April.

The 14-time Grammy winner, 34, has broken a string of records following the release of her highly anticipated album, which is thought to contain references to her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn and The 1975’s Matty Healy.

On the day of release her album, Swift became the first artist in Spotify history to achieve more than 300 million streams in a single day.

With it, the American artist secured her 12th number one on the Official Albums Chart, outselling the rest of the top 10 combined.

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Swift’s new album eclipsed her previous record of 204,000 units moved in seven days,

This brought her level with pop-legend Madonna’s all-time record for most UK number one albums by a female artist.

Alongside that, it secured the biggest opening week in seven years, moving 270,000 units.

However, she didn’t come close to Ed Sheeran’s 2017 album ÷ (Divide) which logged 670,000 first-week UK chart units.

The Tortured Poets Department joins Swift’s other albums: Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore, Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Red (Taylor’s Version), Midnights, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in the 34-year-old’s tally of consecutive chart-toppers.

Only four other acts in chart history have more UK number ones than Swift: The Beatles (16), The Rolling Stones (14), Robbie Williams (14), and Elvis Presley (13).

Swift did manage to bag the biggest opening week for an international act since Scissor Sisters’ second studio album Ta-Dah! back in 2006.