By October 9, Taylor Swift had released 35 variants of The Life of a Showgirl. She then took a two and a half week break to count her money and cheer for sports ball.
Hot 100 the week before The Life of a Showgirl was released:
1. Golden – HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters)
2. Ordinary – Alex Warren
3. Tit for Tat – Tate McRae
4. What I Want – Morgan Wallen featuring Tate McRae
5. Daisies – Justin Bieber
6. Lose Control – Teddy Swims
7. Soda Pop – Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters)
8. I Got Better – Morgan Wallen
9. Love Me Not – Ravyn Lanae
10. Your Idol – Saja Boys (KPop Demon Hunters)
The following week, The Life of a Showgirl debuted and the leading 12 of the Hot 100 consisted of every track on The Life of a Showgirl. But the week after that, some non-Taylor songs broke back into the leading 10. Although Taylor maintained the leading two spots with The Fate of Ophelia and Opalite, Golden from KPop Demon Hunters surged back to #3 and Ordinary by Alex Warren took #4. The remaining 10 tracks from The Life of a Showgirl were #5-#14.
Knowing that Golden was nipping at her heels, Taylor released the acoustic version of The Fate of Ophelia as a digital single on October 28, allowing her to hold on to the #1 position for a third week. This acoustic version had previously only been available as part of the Alone in My Tower variant of her album (the CD was sold for 24 hours on October 4 and the digital album was sold for 24 hours on October 6).
Although Taylor was able to hold the #1 position for the third week in a row, the other songs on The Life of a Showgirl have taken a tumble.
This week’s Hot 100:
1. The Fate of Ophelia – Taylor Swift
2. Golden – HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters)
3. Ordinary – Alex Warren
4. Opalite – Taylor Swift – Taylor Swift
5. Elizabeth Taylor – Taylor Swift
6. Father Figure – Taylor Swift
7. Daisies – Justin Bieber
8. Man I Need – Olivia Dean
9. I Got Better – Morgan Wallen
10. Mutt – Leon Thomas
11. Wi$h Li$t – Taylor Swift
12. The Life of a Showgirl – Taylor Swift
13. Wood – Taylor Swift
15. Actually Romantic – Taylor Swift
19. CANCELLED! – Taylor Swift
20. Eldest Daughter – Taylor Swift
22. Ruin the Friendship – Taylor Swift
26. Honey – Taylor Swift
To boost sales of The Fate of Ophelia and keep it at #1 for next week’s chart, Taylor released two CD singles of the song on October 30 (but they won’t ship until November 14). One CD single is for the regular version of The Fate of Ophelia plus an instrumental version. The other CD single has the acoustic version plus an instrumental version. Each CD single costs $2.99 but the shipping costs $8.60 (and these are only available in the United States). Both are available for only 24 hours. Each CD single contains “a double sided collectible cover with unique artwork from the set of the beat video” but the website doesn’t show the side B photos for either.
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