Taylor Swift is the first artist to be on top of the Billboard Artist 100 list for 10 weeks straight. The chart, which was introduced in July, tracks data from other Billboard lists like the Hot 100, Top Albums Sales and Social 50, all of which Swift has dominated with her new release, 1989. Her record will be a tough one to break considering Sam Smith only topped it for three weeks straight and Ariana Grande clocked in two.
Album sales account for 42 percent of the ranking. 1989 recently reclaimed the top spot on the Billboard 200 with 375,000 album sales, Billboard notes. Digital sales make up 28 percent of the ranking and Swift has held steady thanks to "Blank Space" sales. (The single was downloaded 228,000 times last week).
Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, Pentatonix and Smith are the rest of the top five.
1989 is full of "blatant pop music," which is exactly what the singer wanted after her 2012 release, Red, blurred the lines between pop and country.
"Every record, I've tried to challenge myself to make something different," Swift told Radio.com. "Red was really experimental, so I ended up with a sound that went from mandolins to dubstep. This time, the goal and the end result were completely opposite. On Red, I wanted to try on as many different sounds as I could; on 1989, it was about figuring out which sound fit and wearing it proudly."
The formula worked too. Swift produced pop mega hits with "Shake It Off," "Blank Space" and "Out of the Woods."
Swift kicks off an exhaustive tour in May that will run until October.
