Taylor Swift's Patient Zero Holds No. 1 on Hot 100

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Taylor Swift 's "Patient Zero" has spent a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, one of four new tracks on the deluxe edition of her 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl, holds the top spot on the chart dated October 17, 2026, a week after debuting there as her 16th career No. 1. Billboard announced the result on October 12. The full chart updates on Billboard.com on October 13. The numbers behind the second week In the tracking week of October 2-8, "Patient Zero" earned 17.4 million official US streams, down 50 per cent week over week, and 26.1 million radio airplay audience impressions, down 9 per cent. It also sold 8,000 downloads, down 88 per cent, along with 134,000 first-week copies on CD in the US. The song slipped to No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart, rose from No. 16 to No. 15 on Radio Songs and added a second week at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales, all on Republic Records . Fifth-most weeks at No. 1 of all time The second week gives Swift 51 total weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 across all of her chart-toppers. That is now the fifth-highest total in the chart's 68-year history, behind Mariah Carey (101), Rihanna (60), The Beatles (59) and Drake (58), and one ahead of Boyz II Men (50). Ten multi-week No. 1s "Patient Zero" is also Swift's tenth Hot 100 No. 1 to stay on top for more than one week. Only three other acts have reached double figures: Mariah Carey (17), The Beatles (15) and Rihanna (10). Her longest-running leader remains "The Fate of Ophelia", which spent 10 weeks at No. 1 from October 2025. Her other multi-week No. 1s include "Anti-Hero" (eight weeks), "Blank Space" (seven), "Cruel Summer" and "Shake It Off" (four each), "Look What You Made Me Do" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (three each), and "I Knew It, I Knew You" and "Fortnight" featuring Post Malone (two each). The Showgirl era rolls on The deluxe edition of The Life of a Showgirl was released on September 25. Its success has extended an album run that already broke records; Billboard reports that the album is spending its 14th week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Entzopedia covered the album's earlier chart run in our Showgirl chart report and Swift's record night in our MTV VMAs story . The rest of the top 10 Two songs entered the top 10 this week. Drake and Don Toliver's "Solar Eclipse" debuts at No. 5, Drake's record-extending 91st top 10. Slovak singer-songwriter ADÉLA earns her first top 10 as "Nicole Kidman" climbs three spots to No. 9. Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" holds at No. 2 after its record 24 weeks at No. 1. Stella Lefty's "Boston" rebounds to No. 3, and Morgan Wallen's "Been by Now" rises to No. 4. Tame Impala and JENNIE 's "Dracula" climbs to No. 6, while Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me" (No. 7) and Olivia Rodrigo's "Stupid Song" (No. 8) also move up. Karol G's "BbY WOW", with Judeline and rusowsky, returns to No. 10. How the Hot 100 is calculated The Hot 100 combines all-genre US streaming (official audio and video), radio airplay and sales. Sales include physical singles and digital tracks from full-service retailers, while digital singles sold through direct-to-consumer sites are excluded. Data provider Luminate reviews all submissions and removes anything deemed suspicious before the charts are compiled. Physical sales still count The CD figure stands out. Swift remains one of the few artists whose fans still buy physical formats in large numbers, and those sales continue to give her songs an edge on the chart. What's next With streams halving in week two, "Patient Zero" faces a fight to hold on next week, especially with "Choosin' Texas" still close behind and "Solar Eclipse" arriving strongly. Another week at No. 1 would move Swift closer to Drake's 58 total weeks. Either way, the Showgirl era continues to deliver records more than a year after the album's release. Sources: Billboard