Katy Perry turned 42 on October 25, 2026, giving fans another reason to revisit the spectacular run of hits that made her one of the defining pop stars of the 2010s. But one of the biggest achievements associated with her career has an interesting twist: depending on how album reissues are counted, her landmark record with Michael Jackson is no longer a tie.
In August 2011, Perry became the first woman to score five Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles from the same album. Her 2010 release, Teenage Dream, produced an extraordinary sequence of chart-toppers: "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T." and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)". The achievement matched the record Michael Jackson established with his 1987 album Bad, as Billboard reported at the time.
Why Teenage Dream can now claim six number-one hits
The distinction comes down to a song released almost two years after the original album: "Part of Me". The single debuted at number one on the Hot 100 in March 2012 and appeared on Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, an expanded edition of Perry's blockbuster record.
At the time, Billboard treated songs added to that reissue separately for the purposes of Perry's album record. Consequently, her original five-hit achievement remained tied with Jackson's.
However, an October 2026 analysis by Business Insider, which includes number-one singles added through deluxe editions and reissues, credits Teenage Dream with six chart-toppers, placing it ahead of Bad, which produced five.
That does not mean Perry earned a new number-one single in 2026. The difference is in how previously released songs are grouped with their parent albums. The original 2011 achievement remains historically accurate, while the broader six-song count offers a different perspective on the album's commercial success.
From a gospel upbringing to pop superstardom
Perry's career began in circumstances far removed from the colourful world of Teenage Dream. Born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in California in 1984, she grew up in a deeply religious household where secular music was restricted.
In a 2011 Vanity Fair profile, Perry's early musical discovery was traced to friends who secretly introduced her to pop and rock CDs. Before finding mainstream success, she had pursued Christian music and released a gospel album under her birth name.
Her breakthrough eventually arrived with 2008's "I Kissed a Girl". The enormous success of Teenage Dream followed, establishing the catalogue that would underpin her elaborate live performances, including her unforgettable 2015 Super Bowl halftime appearance.
Sixteen years after Teenage Dream first appeared, its chart history remains remarkable. And the distinction between five original-album number ones and six when counting the expanded edition makes Perry's most famous musical achievement worth examining more closely.
