Taylor Swift takes the crown in brutal battle with Billie Eilish to top the charts

Los Angeles, California - Taylor Swift has officially edged out Billie Eilish as she holds the top spot on the Billboard 200 for the fifth week running.

Taylor Swift (r.) reigned supreme on the Billboard 200, blocking Billie Eilish's HIT ME HARD AND SOFT from the No. 1 spot.
Taylor Swift (r.) reigned supreme on the Billboard 200, blocking Billie Eilish's HIT ME HARD AND SOFT from the No. 1 spot.  © Collage: PHILLIP FARAONE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP & ANDRE DIAS NOBRE / AFP

The continued dominance of The Tortured Poets Department means that Billie's third studio album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, failed to hit No. 1 in its opening week, as confirmed by Billboard on Sunday.

This is the first time one of the 22-year-old's albums failed to take the top spot during release week. Still, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT earned Billie the biggest debut of her career with 339,000 equivalent album units.

The two singers haven't been subtle about their hopes to take the No. 1 spot, and fans were quick to pick up on what appeared to be deliberate attempts on both sides to edge the other out.

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Over a month after its debut, Taylor pushed Swifties to buy even more copies of The Tortured Poets Department by releasing six new editions of the record as HIT ME HARD AND SOFT made its debut.

Billie attempted to keep up by releasing remixes and other special editions of her own, but it seems the power of the cult-like Swifties is simply too strong to ward off.

Before the chart was revealed, the What Was I Made For? singer appeared to take a shot at Taylor as she called the notion of a three-hour-concert "psychotic."

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Taylor Swift (l.) and Billie Eilish are rumored to be feuding, largely due to some apparent attempts to block each other on the music charts and some shade thrown by Billie.
Taylor Swift (l.) and Billie Eilish are rumored to be feuding, largely due to some apparent attempts to block each other on the music charts and some shade thrown by Billie.  © John Sciulli / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

In a recent radio appearance, Billie claimed that "nobody wants" to attend a three-hour-plus show like that of Taylor's The Eras Tour.

The comments weren't received well by Swifties, and while some argued it wasn't intended to be a direct dig at the Down Bad artist, there's increasingly compelling evidence of some real bad blood here.

In March, Billie criticized the "wasteful" practice of releasing several vinyl variants to boost an album's performance on the charts, arguing that the environmental impact was too detrimental to ignore.

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Fans then speculated that the comments were a dig at Taylor, who often releases a number of limited-edition vinyl variants in clear bids to get Swifties to buy multiple copies of the same record.

Billie later clarified she didn't mean to "single out" any particular musician, but with the latest developments, it looks like this may be a real feud after all!

Cover photo: Collage: PHILLIP FARAONE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP & ANDRE DIAS NOBRE / AFP

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