USA
Billboard Report (excerpt)
'Choosin' Texas' is falling (temporarily) at no.2
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
by Keith Caulfield & Gary Trust, Los Angeles

“Patient Zero,” on Republic Records, opens with 34.5 million official streams, 28.5 million radio airplay audience impressions and 65,000 sold in the U.S. Sept. 25-Oct. 1. The track debuts

as Swift’s 12th No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart; at No. 16 on Radio Songs; and as her record-extending 33rd No. 1 on Digital Song Sales. Its Swift-directed video, starring Swift, Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, premiered Sept. 27 during the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. The song is the 1,195th No. 1 in the Hot 100’s history, and the 94th to denut at the summit. “Patient Zero” gives Swift a 50th week career week atop the Hot 100, combining all her chart-toppers. She’s the sixth artist to reach the milestone. Swift cowrote and coproduced “Patient Zero” with Max Martin and Shellback. She has now cowritten all 16 of her Hot 100 No. 1s and coproduced 10. Meanwhile, as The Life of a Showgirl, all iterations combined, now includes three Hot 100 No. 1s, it marks Swift’s second album to spin off that many, after 1989 (“Shake It Off,” “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood,” featuring Lamar) — the last such set by a woman to do so until this week. The Life of a Showgirl is

the first album overall with three Hot 100 leaders since The Weeknd’s After Hours in 2020-21. Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” backtracks to No. 2 following its record 24 weeks atop the Hot 100. Stella Lefty’s “Boston” falls to No. 6 from its No. 2 Hot 100 peak; Morgan Wallen’s “Been by Now” slides 3-7, after it debuted at its No. 2 best; Ariana Grande’s “Hate That I Made You Love Me” descends 4-8, after it led in its debut week in June. Olivia Rodrigo’s “Stupid Song” returns to the Hot 100’s top 10 (13-9), after it hit No. 3 in its debut week in June. It’s up 14% to 11.8 million streams and 12% to 22.2 million in in airplay audience and sold 9,000 physical copies following its release on cassette and 7-inch vinyl, while she kicked off her The Unraveled Tour Sept. 25.  
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Tame Impala and Jennie’s “Dracula” drops to No. 10 from its No. 5 high. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for a 13th nonconsecutive week on top, as the set vaults 21-1 on the Oct. 10-dated chart after it was reissued with four previously unreleased songs on Sept. 25. The album debuted atop the chart dated Oct. 18, 2025, and notched its last week at No. 1 on the Jan. 10, 2026-dated ranking. On Sept. 25, Swift dropped a deluxe edition of the album dubbed The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, adding the new cuts “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.” “Patient Zero” also serves as the focus track of the reissue, and its official music video premiered during the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 27, introduced by Swift on the live broadcast. The Life of a Showgirl earned 173,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Oct. 1, according to Luminate — up 619% as compared to the previous week, when it tallied 21,000 units. About 78% of the album’s units were driven by streaming activity, largely from the four new songs. The nine-month gap between weeks at No. 1 for The Life of a Showgirl is the longest for an album since only earlier this year. On the Feb. 28-dated chart, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tírar Más Fotos hopped 2-1, for a fifth nonconsecutive week on the list, and for its first week at No. 1 in nine months and two weeks. Before that week, it was last No. 1 on the May 17, 2025, chart. Of The Life of a Showgirl’s 173,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week, SEA units comprise 136,000 (up 500%, equaling 138.79 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks; it jumps 17-1 on Top Streaming Albums for its eighth week at No. 1), album sales comprise 21,000 (up 1,529%, it reenters at No. 5 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 16,000 (up 11,445%). The Encore edition of Showgirl is currently only available on streamers and as a digital download for purchase. Four former No. 1s follow Swift on the latest Billboard 200: Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love climbs 5-2 (67,000, up 21% following the launch of her The Unraveled Tour on Sept. 25), Ella Langley’s Dandelion dips 2-3 (58,000, down 4%), Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem is a non-mover at No. 4 (56,000, down 3%) and Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide rises 6-5 (45,000, down 3%). Tinashe claims her first top 10-charted album on the Billboard 200 as Popstar debuts at No. 6 with 35,500 equivalent album units earned — her best week by units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 22,000 (her best sales week; it debuts at No. 4 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 13,500 (equaling 13.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. First-week sales were bolstered by its availability across eight vinyl and CD variants (five signed), four deluxe/expanded digital download editions with bonus tracks, and a standard digital download album. Popstar follows the success of last year’s breakout hit “No Broke Boys,” Tinashe’s collaboration with Disco Lines that marked her first top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2014, reaching No. 36. It also spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and ranked at No. 3 on the year-end Hot Dance/Electronic Songs ranking for 2025. (“No Broke Boys” was originally released as part of Tinashe’s 2024 Quantum Leap album and then got a dance rework with Disco Lines.) Country superstar Kenny Chesney collects his 17th top 10-charted set on the Billboard 200 as Silver Sands Marina debuts at No. 7 with a little over 35,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise nearly 30,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 5.64 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. First-week sales of the album were aided by its availability across eight vinyl variants (three signed), five CD variants (two signed) and a standard digital download album. Rounding out the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200: Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving rises 11-8 (35,000 equivalent album units earned, up 8%), Noah Kahan’s Stick Season steps 10-9 (33,000, down 1%) and Drake’s former leader Iceman falls 9-10 (32,000, down 7%).

Record Of The Month
'SaWaDiKa' is the new smash by Thai rapper and singer Lisa.
It's an homage to her home country Thailand, with the title translation to 'hello' in Thai.

United Kingdom
Music Week Report (excerpt)
Sienna Spiro slides to the runner-up slot
Monday, October 5, 2026
by Alan Jones, London
 
Taylor Swift became the first and only artist ever to have simultaneous new entries at No.1, No.2 and No.3 last October when The Fate Of Ophelia, Opalite and Elizabeth Taylor from The Life Of A Showgirl occupied the medal positions. She was on track to do so again this week but falls just short, with

Patient Zero (No.1, 46,993 sales, including 3,616 digital downloads and 43,377 sales-equivalent streams), Cleveland (No.3, 25,360 sales) and Babylon (No.4, 24,906 sales) travelling in formation all week but eventually being split up at the death by former incumbent Great Expectation by Sienna Spiro, which nestles between the former pair as it dips 1-2 (28,430 sales). Swift’s new chart entries – and the ‘starred-out’ Pink Clouding (23,716 sales) – are new additions to the Encore edition of The Life Of A Showgirl, which marks its first anniversary by surging 84-1. The Fate Of Ophelia (17,810 sales) and Opalite (11,575 sales) earn resets, but are also ‘starred-out’ under primary artist regulations. Swift has now had 83 Top 75, 64 Top 40, 37 Top 10, 19 Top 3 and eight No.1 hits. Five songs have been hits in both original and later Taylor’s Version incarnations. Registering the highest consumption of any track for 11 weeks, Patient Zero is Swift’s third No.1 of

 2026, and the seventh of her No.1s to debut at the summit – only Opalite didn’t – a record for any solo artist. Last week, the top six were all by female solo artists for only the third time in chart history. This week, ‘only’ the top five are, with Jamie Miller’s Babydoll (8-6, 23,335 sales) lining-up behind Ella Langley's Choosin’ Texas (2-5, 24,419 sales) to curtail the sequence. It is, however, the only song in the Top 10 NOT by a female solo artist, those not already mentioned being Boston (3-7, 22,792 sales) by Stella Lefty, The Cure (6-8, 22,226 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, Nicole Kidman (4-9, 20,016 sales) by Adéla and Stop The Wedding! (9-10, 19,319 sales) by Ashe. Of the entire Top 10 only the songs by Ella ‘n’ Stella suffer a dip in support week-on-week. Vacating the Top 10 to make way for Swift: Training Season (5-11, 18,464 sales) by Dua Lipa, Rein Me In (7-12, 18,130 sales) by Sam Fender & Olivia Dean and My Body Isn’t Ready (10-13, 17,297 sales) by Sombr. Rein Me In’s dip bring to an end its record run of 39 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 – four more than previous record holder, I Believe by Frankie Laine. Its overall (non-consecutive) tally of weeks in the Top 10, at 49, is inferior only to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, though the latter disc, which increases consumption week-on-week by 9.73% to 1,432 units this week, will inevitably return and extend its lead later this year. Overall singles consumption is down 0.12% week-on-week to 29,600,824 units, 2.86% below same week 2025 sales of 30,472,567 units. Paid-for sales are up 5.92% week-on-week at 262,177, 1.75% below same week 2025 sales of 266,841. Ending a run of 13 consecutive weeks when a new album debuted at No.1, The Life Of A Showgirl returns to pole position for Taylor Swift after a 46-week gap. Surging 84-1 after the release of its new The Encore edition – which adds Patient Zero, Cleveland!, Babylon and Pink Clouding – the album increased consumption 1297.12% week-on-week to 29,591 units (14,640 CDs, 66 vinyl albums, two cassettes, 735 digital downloads and 14,148 sales-equivalent streams) and racks up its fifth week at No.1 in total, exactly a year after its initial release. Absent from the Top 75 for the last nine weeks, The Life Of A Showgirl racked up the highest first week sales of Swift’s career (423,444 units) but has yet to sell that many in the entire period since, with a to-date tally of 815,618 units placing it eighth in her canon. Swift has spent a grand total of 37 weeks at No.1, a total exceeded by The Beatles (176), Elvis Presley (66), ABBA (58), The Rolling Stones (49), Ed Sheeran (49), Adele (42), Simon & Garfunkel (40) and Robbie Williams (38). 33 of those weeks have come in the 2020s, in which decade her nearest rival is Ed Sheeran, with 10 weeks at the top. Swift’s surge is tough on Keo, a London-based alt-rock/post-grunge quartet whose popularity is founded on word of mouth, incendiary live performances and their 2025 EP Siren. Keo hit the ground running, and were set for a No.1 debut with their introductory album, Put A Smile On For Me until a tranche of CDs of the new version of Swift’s album were unleashed on Wednesday. Achieving first week consumption of 23,527 units, Put A Smile On For Me would have been the first debut album by an act without as much as a low-charting single to open at No.1 since The Lathums’ first LP, How Beautiful Life Can Be did so five years ago this very week. Keo’s lead vocalist and guitarist Finn Keogh wrote all 11 songs on the album (one with Gulliver Ellis), and has just turned 23. His bandmates are 25-year-old brother Conor Keogh (bass), 22-year-old Jimmy Lanwern (guitar) and 27-year-old drummer Oli Spackman. Keo’s robust debut was always going to deny Essex band Nothing But Thieves the chance to secure their second No.1 with Stray Dogs, which opens at No.3 on consumption of 16,199 units, 18.92% more than the 13,622 units its immediate predecessor, Dead Club City, sold when it debuted at No.1 in 2023. All of Nothing But Thieves’ five albums have made the Top 10, and their biggest-seller is their eponymous 2015 debut, which peaked at No.7 and has to-date consumption of 142,164 units. The rest of the Top 10: You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love (3-4, 11,928 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo, The Essential (2-5, 9,513 sales) by Michael Jackson, Time Flies 1994-2009 (8-6, 9,204 sales) by Oasis, The Art Of Loving (5-7, 8,710 sales) by Olivia Dean, Visitor (4-8, 8,493 sales) by Sienna Spiro, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (14-9, 7,453 sales) by Oasis and 50 Years: Don’t Stop (7-10, 7,153 sales) by Fleetwood Mac. Overall album sales are up 2.68% week-on-week to 2,455,009 units, 3.75% below same week 2025 sales of 2,550,564. Physical product accounts for 338,028 sales, 13.77% of the total.