© 2024 WUKY
background_fid.jpg
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Taylor Swift breaks a record and sweeps Billboard's top ten spots

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Next week, if you bring up the No. 1 song in the country, it'll be by Taylor Swift.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If you prefer the No. 2 song in the country, that is also by Taylor Swift.

MARTÍNEZ: In fact, songs from her album "Midnight" (ph) will make history by capturing the entire top 10 for the next Billboard Hot 100 list.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MIDNIGHT RAIN")

TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) He was sunshine. I was midnight rain. He wanted it comfortable. I wanted that pain.

INSKEEP: Swift is the first artist to score 10 of 10. She's now had so many No. 1 albums that she is in the company of Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen and Drake. Ana Castillejos is a fan.

ANA CASTILLEJOS: I mean, I am over the moon excited, but I knew she could do it.

MARTÍNEZ: She co-hosts "13: A Taylor Swift Fan Podcast." Each episode breaks down one song.

CASTILLEJOS: "Midnights" is kind of all-encompassing in that it's almost like a road map, which makes it really, really exciting as a fan to kind of see where she's leading us in all of the different songs.

INSKEEP: A road map in that it refers back to Swift's older material. Castillejos' favorites include "Midnight Rain," which we just heard, and the final track, "Mastermind," which nods to Swift's meticulous nature.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MASTERMIND")

SWIFT: (Singing) What if I told you none of it was accidental? And the first night that you saw me, nothing was going to stop me. I laid the groundwork. And then, just like clockwork, the dominoes cascaded in a line. What if I told you I'm a mastermind?

CASTILLEJOS: For her to talk about being a mastermind in terms of, like, her relationship - like, I planned this all along, and I got the guy that I've been wanting to date, and now we're together. I - she is a mastermind, and she's a marketing genius.

MARTÍNEZ: Taylor Swift once said she worried about aging out of celebrity as a woman over 30. But Castillejos says Tay can (singing) shake it off.

CASTILLEJOS: She doesn't need to prove herself. Like, we know that she is one of the most incredible and successful artists of our generation.

INSKEEP: And the song "Anti-Hero" is now roughly every third song on the radio when my kids go to school.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANTI-HERO")

SWIFT: (Singing) It's me. Hi. I'm the problem. It's me. At tea time... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.