Taylor Swift Sets Women’s Record for Most Number One Albums 

Taylor Swift accepts the "iHeartRadio Innovator" award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, March 27, 2023. (Reuters)
Taylor Swift accepts the "iHeartRadio Innovator" award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, March 27, 2023. (Reuters)
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Taylor Swift Sets Women’s Record for Most Number One Albums 

Taylor Swift accepts the "iHeartRadio Innovator" award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, March 27, 2023. (Reuters)
Taylor Swift accepts the "iHeartRadio Innovator" award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, March 27, 2023. (Reuters)

Taylor Swift now has more number one albums than any other female artist in history following the recent release of "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," Billboard said Monday.

The record debuted at the top of the Billboard charts, becoming the pop queen's 12th number one album and surpassing Barbra Streisand for the most among women.

For male performers, Jay-Z and the Beatles both have over a dozen number one albums, though Billboard notes it has changed its album ranking system over the decades to include anthologies.

Swift, 33, has also become the first living artist in nearly 60 years to have four albums in the top 10 at the same time, the organization added.

They include "Midnights," "Lover" and "Folklore."

Billboard said Swift had also become the first living artist to have 11 albums in the top 200 simultaneously.

Swift's record-breaking feats come as she performs many of her best hits on the fan-frenzied "Eras" tour.

The 106-date stadium concert series kicked off in March and is within striking distance of becoming the first billion-dollar tour.

"Speak Now" was originally released in 2010. Swift has vowed to re-record her first six albums so she can control their rights -- a process she was contractually allowed to begin in November 2020.

She has also re-recorded "Fearless" and "Red."

Last October, Swift became the first artist ever to simultaneously nab all 10 spots on the top US song chart after the release of her tenth studio album "Midnights."



Britney Biopic in Works as Universal Buys Memoir Rights

US pop star Britney Spears. (Reuters)
US pop star Britney Spears. (Reuters)
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Britney Biopic in Works as Universal Buys Memoir Rights

US pop star Britney Spears. (Reuters)
US pop star Britney Spears. (Reuters)

A Britney Spears biopic is in development after Universal Pictures bought movie rights to the pop star's best-selling memoir, the Hollywood studio announced Thursday.
"Crazy Rich Asians" director Jon Chu is attached to develop and direct the film, based on Spears's recent autobiographical book "The Woman In Me," the company said in a statement to AFP.
Universal won a "highly competitive auction" for the film adaptation rights, with "La La Land" producer Marc Platt due to oversee the project, it said.
"Excited to share with my fans that I've been working on a secret project with #MarcPlatt. He's always made my favorite movies," Spears herself posted on social media Thursday.
"Stay tuned," she told fans.
"The Woman In Me" laid bare the troubled singer's journey from child star to global pop phenomenon, as well as her subsequent high-profile public breakdown and legal battles with her father.
Full of criticism of her controlling family and an industry that mercilessly devours its talent, the book sold over 2.5 million copies in the United States alone following its publication last October.
Spears's phenomenal early music success with late 1990s hits like "...Baby One More Time" coincided with an aggressive paparazzi culture that delighted in capturing her partying alongside hell-raisers like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.
In the book, Spears revealed that Justin Timberlake urged her to have an abortion after she became pregnant during their relationship.
And she shared details of her brief but intense affair with Irish actor and Oscar nominee Colin Farrell, which she called "a two-week brawl."
Following Spears's public breakdown, she was placed under the conservatorship of her father Jamie Spears, who controlled her money and her personal life, even as she continued to perform high-profile concerts.
The conservatorship was dissolved by a Los Angeles court in 2021, after a groundswell of public support to "Free Britney."
Her father has always insisted that he had the best interests of his daughter at heart and was seeking to protect her from exploitation.
No release date has been set for the Britney film.
Universal has previously released musical biopics about hip-hop group N.W.A ("Straight Outta Compton") and rapper Eminem ("8 Mile.")
Chu is also directing Universal's big-budget, two-part movie adaptation of the musical "Wicked," with the first film out in November.