Here’s how Taylor Swift’s prolific run of albums stacks up against the all-time greats, and what they got right — and wrong — in building their careers and enduring stardom.
Last week, Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” album debuted at No. one on the Billboard 200 with more than 100,000 equivalent album units earned in the week following its release, topping the list with 103,000 units, while simultaneously becoming the first album since 2004’s “Fearless” by a woman to top the Billboard 200 in its first week. In its first two weeks of release, “Reputation” has tallied more than 130,000 units to date in the U.S. (not to mention, in the U.K.).
In celebration of album’s release, Billboard asked several music industry heavyweights — most of whom have never even seen Swift herself — to rank Swift’s body of work against the all-time greats in music. The criteria used to determine these rankings was one’s track record of chart-topping albums, songwriting excellence, quality of promotion (as with the “Reputation” launch), and overall consistency of sales and album sales (releases are usually weighted more heavily when calculating this stat).
Let’s get right into it:
RANK ORDER: The All-Time Greatest Albums, Ranked
1. Taylor Swift
2. Beyoncé
3. Madonna
4. Michael Jackson
5. Nirvana
6. Eric Clapton
7. David Bowie
8. Madonna
9. Prince
10. Janet Jackson
11. Elton John
12. Britney Spears
13. Paul McCartney
14. U2
15. The Beatles
16. Nirvana
17. Madonna
18. Garth Brooks
19. Pink Floyd
20. The Eagles
21. The Rolling Stones
22. Mariah Carey
23. Michael Jackson
24. Madonna
25. Elvis Presley
26. Michael Jackson
27. Prince
28.