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Taylor Swift has set two new Spotify records following the arrival of her latest single and extended album.
Data from the streaming service confirms that the 36-year-old pop star became 2026’s most-streamed female artist in a single day. Her new single, Patient Zero, which dropped on Friday, also secured the title for the most-streamed song by a female artist in a single day this year.
The releases mark her first musical output since marrying NFL player Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in New York in July. In the track Cleveland! – named after Kelce’s hometown – Swift directly responds to detractors of their romance. The four newly added compositions on Life Of A Showgirl: The Encore also include Pink Clouding and Babylon.
Critical reaction to the extended record has been lukewarm. The album was awarded two stars by The Independent, The Telegraph, and The Guardian, with the latter describing it as: “It’s like watching an ambitious chorus line dancer breathlessly flay herself in the spotlight to prove herself worthy of our love.”
Conversely, The Times handed down a four-star rating, calling the songs a “reminder that when it comes to taking diaristic details and making them palatable for the pop mainstream, nobody does it better”.
Rather than being unreleased material left over from the original 2025 album, the additional songs were written after the initial release became a hit.
Swift is set to debut the music video for Patient Zero – featuring actors Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson – at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards. She will also receive the inaugural MTV Artist Director award at the ceremony, an accolade recognising musicians who direct their own videos.
These latest achievements build on a milestone-filled year for Swift, who was named the most streamed artist in Spotify’s nearly 20-year history earlier in 2026.
In June, she also achieved a historical milestone by becoming the youngest woman inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Swift was also in attendance to watch Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs pull off a dramatic overtime win against the Indianapolis Colts last weekend, with footage emerging online of the pop star celebrating wildly at the end of the thrilling game.
