Taylor may have spared Teddy Swims’ soulful tune with a key decision about The Life of a Showgirl
(October 16, 2025) – Taylor Swift didn’t just dominate the charts this week — she may have accidentally saved someone else’s career milestone in the process.
Her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, shot the pop superstar into yet another stratosphere with its remarkable, history-making first-week sales: 4.002 million album-equivalent units — including 1.4 million of that being from vinyl — propelled it to a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 dated October 18.
Even more jaw-dropping, all twelve songs from the album occupy the top 12 positions on the Billboard Hot 100 — the first time in history an artist has filled the chart’s entire upper dozen with a single project’s entire output.
But buried beneath those headlines lies a quieter story — one about how Showgirl, and a simple decision Taylor made about its length, could alter Billboard chart history for years to come.
The Showgirl Takeover
For months, several 2024 holdovers had been stubborn fixtures on the Hot 100. Shaboozey’s country-rap hybrid “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Teddy Swims’ blue-eyed-soul smash “Lose Control,” and Benson Boone’s rock-pop ballad “Beautiful Things” had defied the usual chart life cycles.
Add Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” and Chappell Roan’s cult favorite “Pink Pony Club,” and you had a veteran squad still holding strong deep into 2025 (and looking toward 2026!).
Before Showgirl arrived, those songs seemed untouchable. “A Bar Song” had become the Hot 100’s unofficial “biggest hit ever,” thanks to its longevity and record-tying 19-week run at No. 1 in 2024. Meanwhile, Swims’ “Lose Control” was right behind it — a chart survivor that had amassed an astonishing 111 weeks on the list and was still sitting comfortably in the top 10 as of the October 11 chart.
Then Taylor happened.
Collateral Damage
With Showgirl’s record-shattering debut, all twelve tracks bulldozed their way into the Hot 100’s top dozen, pushing every other hit down in their wake.
That chain reaction triggered Billboard’s “housekeeping” rule: any song that’s been charting more than 52 weeks and falls below No. 25 is automatically removed. The result?
• Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” finally exited after its epic run.
• Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club” also fell off after a career-best 68 weeks.
But other holdovers — “Lose Control,” “Die With a Smile,” and “Beautiful Things” — narrowly survived. And that’s where Taylor’s mercy comes in.
Mercy for Teddy Swims
By capping Showgirl at just twelve tracks, Taylor left a few crucial chart slots open.
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” now sits at No. 17, while “Die With a Smile” holds No. 22 and “Beautiful Things” clings to No. 25. Had Taylor added even one more track, Boone’s single likely would’ve slipped below the threshold and gone recurrent. Add a few more Showgirl tunes, and Gaga & Mars could’ve joined him.
Most dramatically, if Taylor had released a 21-track Showgirl — still ten shy of what she did with 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department — “Lose Control” would’ve been swept off entirely, ending its remarkable two-year run and eliminating its shot at becoming the Hot 100’s all-time biggest hit.
Related Reading: Taylor’s Torture prevents Benson Boone from getting his first No. 1 hit.
The Beautiful Thing About Mercy
Instead, Swims lives to fight another week plus some. With each additional chart frame, “Lose Control” continues accumulating points toward that elusive “greatest hit” crown — one “A Bar Song“ can no longer defend.
When Showgirl’s initial storm subsides (and it will), “Lose Control” could rebound into the top 10, padding its total and perhaps rewriting Billboard’s record book in the process.
So yes — Taylor Swift’s latest masterstroke shattered records of her own. But it may also have preserved one of 2024’s — and 2025’s — biggest hits from extinction.
Fortunately for Teddy Swims, and thanks to Taylor mercifully limiting Showgirl to twelve tracks, his anthem didn’t meet its end this week. It continues to breathe, to dwell, to survive…
…and not die with a smile.
Oh, it’s a beautiful thing…for Swims, that is!
— DJ Rob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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