Taylor Swift holds on to U.K. No. 1 with 'Patient Zero'

Taylor Swift's "Patient Zero" has held No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart for a second consecutive week.

The chart published on Friday, Oct. 9 keeps Swift at the top ahead of four other songs in the top five, according to Billboard. It is a straight hold at the summit. No new challenger broke through.

Sienna Spiro's "Great Expectation" stayed at No. 2. The song had already given Spiro her first U.K. No. 1 single after two weeks at the top. Jamie Miller's "Babydoll" climbed three places to No. 3, while Ashe's "Stop the Wedding!" jumped six places to No. 4.

Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" completed the top five at No. 5. The positions leave one established chart-topper in front and four contenders grouped behind her. All five songs held or improved on their previous placings.

For Swift, the run keeps building. "Patient Zero" is her eighth U.K. No. 1 single, as confirmed by Official Charts. It is also her third U.K. chart-topper of 2026, after "Opalite" and "I Knew It, I Knew You" from Toy Story 5.

The track comes from the Encore deluxe edition of her album The Life of a Showgirl. That version adds four songs in total: "Patient Zero" alongside "Cleveland!", "Pink Clouding" and "Babylon". The extra tracks extend the standard album rather than replacing it.

Swift premiered the "Patient Zero" music video on Sept. 27 at the 2026 MTV VMAs. At the same ceremony she collected the inaugural artist director prize. The premiere put the video in front of a live awards audience before its wider release.

Further down the chart, Noah Kahan scored the week's highest new entry. "Draw You Out" debuted at No. 16 and appears on the forthcoming The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping soundtrack. Drake landed three entries after the expanded edition of his 2026 album HABIBTI, with "Solar Eclipse" at No. 22, "Quebec" at No. 27 and "Cold Shoulder" at No. 36.

The song started strongly outside Britain too. It launched at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart, which rank songs by streaming and sales around the world and outside America respectively, according to Billboard. In Britain, it also held a spot on BBC Radio 1's playlist for 9-15 October and on BBC Radio 2's New Music Playlist.

What makes this stand out is the pace. Three U.K. No. 1 singles in one calendar year keeps Swift at the centre of the singles chart in a year that has also delivered a first U.K. No. 1 for Spiro. For now, the challengers stay in place behind her.