If you want to party with somebody who might know what it’s like to have 16 Number One songs, you can now hit up Taylor Swift. The superstar just topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart once again with her new single “Patient Zero.” It marks Swift’s fourth
chart-topper of the year after “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Opalite,” and “I Knew It, I Knew You” also notched the top slot.
With the feat, Swift has knocked Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” from the top slot, halting its historic reign with a whopping 24 weeks atop the chart since February. She also joins Rihanna as the only female solo artists to earn four Number One hits on the chart in the same year. The song marks the third single from The Life of a Showgirl to go Number One as well. Earlier this year, “The Fate of Ophelia” became Swift’s longest-running chart-topper with nine weeks.
Swift released “Patient Zero” as the lead single on the extended version of her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, which included three other new tracks: “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon.” All of those songs also made it on the Hot 100’s top five. Showgirl also returned to the top of the Billboard 200 for a 13th week.
On “Patient Zero,” the singer-songwriter paints the picture of what happens when an ex’s new girl calls you up for advice “from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before,” as she told Capital FM.
A couple of days after The Encore was released, Swift premiered the cinematic music video for “Patient Zero” at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. The unconventional release follows in the steps of the other Showgirl singles (and Number Ones) which premiered visuals in theaters and exclusively on Spotify and Apple Music. Just like with “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Opalite” music videos, the “Patient Zero” visual was not immediately available on YouTube. The move coincides with YouTube’s decision to withdraw its data from Billboard charts following changes to the charts’ methodology.
The commercial success of “Patient Zero” comes after The Encore received a mixed responsefrom fans online and critics alike.
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