Taylor Swift closes in on Beatles record 20 Hot 100 No. 1s

Taylor Swift has celebrated her 16th career No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the single Patient Zero.

The song, with its star-studded music video debuted by Swift on MTV, marks her fourth No. 1 of 2026, after Opalite, I Knew It, I Knew You, and The Fate of Ophelia.

Swift is closing in on The Beatles' all-time record of 20 Hot 100-toppers, a feat that has stood unequalled for 56 years.

The Fab Four started their run in February 1964 with I Want to Hold Your Hand topping the chart for seven weeks, and smashed out 18 more No. 1s before their final chart topper, The Long and Winding Road, in June 1970.

Billboard has confidently predicted that Swift will easily surpass the record.

"Taylor is nothing if not relentless in her craft," opined the outlet's Chris Eggertsen.

"I don't anticipate a slowdown anytime soon. She charted her first Hot 100 No. 1 in 2012, with We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. In the 14 years since, she's racked up an average of at least one No. 1 single every year, though the pace of those No. 1s accelerated dramatically this decade, in large part thanks to the Taylor's Version re-releases and the resurgence of Cruel Summer a few years back."

Swift released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October 2025, followed by an extended deluxe edition, The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, featuring four new tracks, last month.