Taylor Swift's 'Patient Zero' is her 16th Hot 100 No. 1 — four behind The Beatles
Taylor Swift's new single "Patient Zero" has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — her 16th career chart-topper and a step that leaves her just four No. 1s behind The Beatles' all-time record of 20, which has stood unequaled for 56 years.
The song is one of four Encore bonus tracks from her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl, and it wasn't the only one making noise. Swift filled four of the top five spots on the chart this week, with "Pink Clouding," "Babylon" and "Cleveland!" slotting into Nos. 3 through 5 behind her.
It's the third new No. 1 of Swift's 2026, following "Opalite" and "I Knew It, I Knew You" — the first calendar year of her career with three fresh chart-toppers, and the first time any artist has done it since Rihanna in 2010. "Patient Zero," which came with a star-studded music video Swift debuted on MTV, also helped her take the first-ever Artist Director award at September's VMAs.
Will she pass The Beatles?
Every Billboard staffer in this week's Five Burning Questions says yes. Chris Eggertsen points out that Swift's first No. 1 arrived in 2012 with "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," and argues that a new studio album every couple of years, plus the promised Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version) re-recording and possible vault tracks, "would put her ahead of The Beatles by 2030."
Andrew Unterberger is even more bullish: "I'd be a little surprised if she didn't get there by 2028, honestly." Hannah Dailey expects she'll grab No. 21 "before the ball drops on 2030," while Katie Atkinson calls 2029 her guess — "Maybe it will be for Toy Story 6." Kyle Denis, meanwhile, says she'll "at least tie them by the end of the decade."
Unterberger flags one caveat about how concentrated those No. 1s have been: even with four separate songs spending time on top this year, Swift has logged only six total weeks at No. 1 in 2026, versus eight from "Ophelia" alone in 2025.