Taylor Swift joined by new British stars in another exceptional year for women in music

British upstart and 2026 Grammy nominee Lola Young leads the pack when it comes to singles; her 2024 single Messy finished as 2025’s second-biggest song, racking up 1.4 million chart sales. Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club, HUNTR/X’s Golden, and ROSÉ’s APT (with Bruno Mars) complete the Top 5 of 2025’s biggest hits. Not since 2011 have more female artists made up the Top 5 annual best-sellers, when women were part of all top five tracks.

MORE: The Official biggest songs of 2025

Olivia Dean is responsible for the biggest new release by a British artist with Man I Need, which finishes ninth in the year-end rankings. Olivia also became the first woman ever to claim four concurrent Top 10 singles in late October, and is the only female artist to score her first UK Number 1 single and album in the same week. 

In addition to Lola and Olivia, other British female artists also claimed immense accolades in 2025. JADE scored the fastest-selling debut album of the year with THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY! which peaked at Number 3 on the Official Albums Chart, while Skye Newman became the first British woman in over a decade to reach the Top 20 with her first two singles.  

RAYE spent 12 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 with her Number 2-peaking WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?, while Lily Allen’s viral divorce album West End Girl climbed to Number 1 on the Official Albums Streaming Chart in its second week of release as the word-of-mouth reaction to the album saw it outstream Taylor Swift’s The Life Of A Showgirl. West End Girl is set to be physically released in 2026. 

Speaking of Taylor, she became the first act in almost half a century to claim the year’s biggest album for two consecutive years with different studio albums. Not since The Beatles released With The Beatles (1963) and Beatles For Sale (1964) has an act achieved the feat, which Taylor matched with The Life Of A Showgirl and 2024’s The Tortured Poets Department.

MORE: The Official biggest albums of 2025

The Life Of A Showgirl became the fastest-selling album ever by an international artist in the UK, claimed the biggest week of vinyl sales this century, and notched up the most album streams ever in a single week. Taylor also surpassed Madonna to become the female artist with the most UK Number 1 albums in chart history.

On the Official Singles Chart, Taylor became the first artist to debut simultaneously in the top three positions with The Fate Of Ophelia, Opalite and Elizabeth Taylor respectively.