Chart Commentary — November 15, 2025

A FIFTH OF TAYLOR

Taylor Swift’s “The Fate of Ophelia” towers over all competition on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fifth week, encompassing its entire run on the chart so far.  Of the superstar’s 13 career Hot 100 No. 1s, “The Fate of Ophelia” is her third to have led for at least five weeks. It joins “Anti-Hero” (eight weeks, beginning Nov. 5, 2022) and “Blank Space” (seven, Nov. 29, 2014).

“The Fate of Ophelia” parent album The Life of a Showgirl sparkles with a fifth week atop the Billboard 200 chart.  Swift’s concurrent command over Billboard’s premier album and song charts hits yet more historic heights. Of the 16 instances of acts debuting atop the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 simultaneously, The Life of a Showgirl and “The Fate of Ophelia” make for the first combination of an artist stretching the titles’ respective reigns to their first five weeks.

A “THRILLER” OF A DISTINCTION

Following Halloween, Michael Jackson posthumously makes history on the Hot 100 as “Thriller” blasts from No. 32 to No. 10. With the song, which hit No. 4 in 1984, the late King of Pop becomes the first artist ever to rank in the top 10 in six distinct decades (the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000s, ‘10s and now ‘20s).  He surpasses Andy Williams, who died in 2012 and whose history includes placements in the top 10 in five decades (‘50s, ’60s, ’70s, ‘10s and ’20s, extended since 2018 thanks to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”).

Jackson first reached the Hot 100’s top 10 as a soloist in November 1971 with his debut on his own, “Got to Be There.” (His fellow acts in the top 10 that week: Isaac Hayes, Cher, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Bread, the Chi-Lites, Rod Stewart, Cat Stevens, Sly & the Family Stone and the Osmonds.) Jackson boasts 30 top 10s, including 13 No. 1s. Until this week, Jackson, who died in 2009, last ranked in the top 10 as featured on Drake’s “Don’t Matter to Me” in 2018.

(Notably, with Jackson, then just 11 years old, as a member, the Jackson 5 spent its first week in the Hot 100’s top 10 on the last chart of the ‘60s, dated Dec. 27, 1969, with breakthrough hit “I Want You Back.”)

Additionally, “Thriller” is now Jackson’s sole longest-charting Hot 100 hit: 26 weeks. It one-ups two other classics from his Thriller album, as “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” each spent 25 weeks on the chart beginning in 1983.

“MUTT” BARKS

Leon Thomas’ “Mutt” barks 10-8 for a new Hot 100 best.