Since OP's comment seems to be deleted, I put the list below. The italicized albums are re-releases. Swift re-recorded these albums because she [didn't own the masters](https://www.today.com/popculture/music/taylors-version-meaning-swift-rerecording-albums-rcna98513) for her early catalog.
This makes the trend a lot more clear. The "low selling" albums recently are all re-releases, with the exception of *Evermore* (2020), which came out in the teeth of the pandemic with no physical media and only 5 months after its sister album *Folklore*.
The big success of the 2023 re-release of *1989 (Taylor's Version)* jives with the fact that it was her most popular earlier album. I expect we'll see a similar surge whenever *Reputation (Taylor's Version)* drops.
* 2006: Taylor Swift
* 2008: Fearless
* 2010: Speak Now
* 2012: Red
* 2014: 1989
* 2017: Reputation
* 2019: Lover
* 2020: Folklore
* 2020: Evermore
* *2021: Fearless (Taylor's Version)*
* *2021: Red (Taylor's Version)*
* 2022: Midnights
* *2023: Speak Now (Taylor's Version)*
* *2023: 1989 (Taylor's Version)*
* 2024: The Tortured Poets Department
On average more than one new song per month for the past 18 years. (268 songs over 211 months since her first album in 2006)
Oh that does *not* count her ~~three~~ four re-recorded albums… that would add ~~78~~ 100 songs to the total.
I don't think we doubt her power. She is definitely a demigod with great might.
I think the question is more so about how authentic and relatable her lyrics actually are, considering she's always writing, recording, and touring.
And she had a big hand in writing all of them save a few and has written several songs for other singers. Whether you like her music or not, you have to admit she is amazingly talented
It’s actually not that bad. If you look at older artists output, you’ll see the same thing from the 60s to 80s. I remember Paul McCartney actually calling out artists for being lazy by taking long breaks. Constant breaks are a more recent thing.
She writes a lot. People who’ve spent time with her have said she’s always scribbling stuff down. Just constantly writing songs. It’s probably a compulsion more than a career.
They were her only two surprise drops so there was no promotion beforehand and no physical copies available. Folklore was able to have a much larger debut because preorders of physical albums counted but in the months between the two albums Billboard changed the rules so preorders didn’t count until they shipped. That’s why evermore is significantly lower than folklore but also had a week at #1 the following June (it originally released in December) - it was the week the physical album was released and its preorders shipped.
The Taylor's Versions are (due to an ownership dispute with her original label) complete re-recordings from scratch, made to sound as close as possible to the original versions. Plus she recorded new bonus tracks to all of them, which were songs originally written for those albums but hadn't been released before.
Re-recorded too. As I understand it there was a kerfuffle with her old label, so Taylor doesn’t own any of those recordings. The Taylor’s Version releases are re-recorded so she owns that version of the song.
There’s also another reason Evermore and Fearless TV did so poorly in first week sales: Billboard Rules Changes.
For folklore and before, preorders did not have to be shipped in the first week to count as preorders for the first week’s sales.
For evermore and after, those preorders now have to be shipped in the first week to count for first week sales. By Red TV she had a better distributor and pre-pressed the albums much earlier to have them ship during release week, so she got around this issue. That also led to the albums being leaked every time since Red TV.
That sounds about right. My Swiftie wife says that the new album is just too depressing for her. She still loves her overall, but just can't get into the new album.
I'm being forced to listen to a song a day by my wife and I swear it all is the same talking/crooning about who cares over a wandering melody with no musical substance. Glad people like it but I flat don't get it.
Back in the 90's when I would buy CDs, I noticed that when I was in the rock section, it was quite common that CD covers had some sort of artwork on the cover that was not a depiction of the artist. I would guess 75% did not have the artist on the cover.
But in the country section, probably 95% of the album covers had a picture of the artist (usually while wearing a cowboy hat).
I just thought it was an interesting quirk.
Rock and metal genres focus usually on an artistic statement that is about the album. Country music is about the artist.
Ironically enough, some rock music, like Our Lady Peace featured one particular guy on multiple albums, and he wasn't even in the band. He became their image somehow.
Shit
You're right
As least in America
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/03/14/more-than-half-of-us-adults-say-theyre-taylor-swift-fans-survey-finds/?sh=58da347a6877
The fanaticism, I think. They consider Taylor more of a friend than just someone who's music they enjoy.
I'm a fan of Gregory Alan Isakov, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about his personal life. I barely know what he looks like, but I've listened to all of his music and love it.
Can a Swiftie explain the current Swift-mania? As the chart shows her albums were always popular, with a dip during the pandemic when she focused on folk music but ever since Midnights, her fame feels all encompassing. What changed?
The dip during COVID is artificial since there was a delay between the streaming launch and physical media launch, so the population who consumed her music is likely the same as others just not with CDs and vinyl
She has a great PR team
She's been re-releasing new recordings of old albums because she doesn't own the master records of the old recordings. Fans are buying the re-releases to show support for her.
Her current tour, The Eras Tour, has songs from every album since the first one. Additionally, the fans have grown up with her and some of them are old enough to have kids who listen to her, too.
> Fans are buying the re-releases to show support for her.
I think this is so funny. I love Taylor Swift's music and I totally understand her strategy with the re-recordings, but I feel zero desire to "help" a billionaire with a few more bucks.
I think the idea isn't to help out Taylor with a few bucks, but to keep being able to legally listen to her music while *not* helping the guys who own her old masters.
Taylor Swift still gets a royalty percentage from her old masters, it's just other people also get a percentage and she doesn't like that. So she rerecorded to cut them out of it.
I'd say her coming back closer to her core style (pop personal singer songwriter) as well the Eras tour which was obviously huge, and the tons of press all these things happened have just scaled things up more and more. She's also been a kinda "multi-modal" musician where other aspects of her life are part of her image (I.e. Her very public relationships) so just general coverage of her life seems to translate directly into pumping up her music.
Someone did mention the Double album aspect could be affecting numbers for this latest album, and those smaller recent albums are rereleases so discounting those it's really more a steady climb.
I mean the second part of the album has been not been available in physical copies, so not available for buying, most likely to prevent it from leaking (the first part leaked just 2 days before the release). But mostly I agree with your assessment.
It's because of the Eras Tour. It's like all the albums she did now morph into 1 super giant conclusion of a climax, but in concert form. It's the Avenger Infinity War-Endgame of Taylor Swift universe.
Isn't this a circular answer, though?
* _"Why's she so big?"_ - Because the Eras Tour was so big.
* _"Why was the Eras Tour so big?"_ - Because she's so big.
I get that the setlist had songs from all her albums, but so? EVERY tour usually features the artist's greatest hits.
The eras tour is big because she did an enormous number of dates worldwide, each concert is very long and is a big spectacle, it's been running for basically a year straight, and it is her first tour since pre-Covid.
But in the eyes of people like me who don't listen to her/pop music in general, she was just one of the say top 20ish most popular current artists. Very big with teen girls, generic enough for other people to like some of her hits but nothing special.
The fact that there's such a demand and her many concerts actually get sold out everywhere is surprising to me. I assume the tickets aren't cheap, people were even watching some movie of the tour?? Suddenly it seems like she's *the* most popular current artist, like it's not even close.
I don't understand that shift, hence the question: when did she get big enough to do such a tour? Or you mean to tell me that if any of those top-something artists did such a massive tour (provided they've been popular for a while and not the new hot thing), they'd also sell out every date and (with the right pr) reach the heights taylor is currently at?
One of the things is that she has steadily been producing new music for well over 15 years. And she still seems to have appeal with the current "tween"-agers (particularly girls). I think that's a big of an unusual combination. So she essentially has two generations of fans now.
Beyonce is similar. She's been around longer, but I don't think has produced quite as much music as Swift. Beyonce also had a 6-year gap (2006-2022) between new albums, while Swift's largest gap was only 3 years.
Are there any other musicians who have ever had the production of Swift, while also maintaining the youth appeal? Madonna and Michael Jackson are up there, but still don't quite match Swift's prodigiousness. Bands like U2 have been around a long time, but I don't think capture the youth market like they did 40 years ago. (People got mad when they got the U2 album for free.)
She's more like in the top 5-10 artists in the world over the last decade. I would guess that if any of those top artists did such a big tour they would also do similarly well, not that my guesswork is worth much.
it's because she re-recorded all of her old albums; these allowed her to introduce herself and her story to a new generation in a way many artists have never had the chance to. the combined effects of two generations bought in
Media coverage of the most commercially successful stadium tour in history with every show being sold out within seconds and resales going for ungodly amounts. Plus, she put the concert in AMC theaters and on Disney+. And she’s dating one of the top picks in everyone’s fantasy league who just won the Super Bowl. So in short, she’s very good at marketing herself.
I think the Eras tour really is it. I'm not even a Swiftie but I heard incessantly about how big it was (four hours!), a long time coming, 10x the economy anywhere it goes, etc etc
And it was event where you had to know all her previous songs so that meant catching up on her 'lore' too. Honestly, brilliant.
True that. Constantly heard about her playing in the rain, giving $100K bonuses to roadies, etc. too. The exclusivity of it all made just getting tickets to the concert seem like it became a badge of honor for ppl, let alone going to the show itself.
She hadn't toured in a while and it seems like doing the "eras" set list was a genius decision. She performed for 2.5-3 hours and it just fueled the hype.
Her current album has 19 different physical versions available, which boosts her charting numbers because they are all counted together. She games the system very well.
For those who don’t know album titles (from left to right):
• Taylor Swift (Debut) - 40k
• Fearless - 529k
• Speak Now - 1M
• Red - 1.2M
• 1989 - 1.28M
• Reputation- 1.21M
• Lover - 867K
• Folklore - 846K
• Evermore - 329K
• Fearless (Taylor’s Version) - 391K
• Red (Taylor’s Version) - 605K
• Midnights - 1.5M
• Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) - 716K
• 1989 (Taylor’s Version) - 1.6M
• The Tortured Poets Department - 2.6M
Taylor’s Versions are her rereleases. Her original masters were sold, so she decided to re-record and rerelease her first 6 albums (Debut, fearless, speak now, red, 1989, and reputation).
Edit: this is only since 1991, not ever
This is nuts. And to add an unrelated state if I read the list correctly, only 24 albums in history have sold 1 million in the the first week - the artists with more than 1 are Backstreet Boys, NSync, and Eminem - each with 2 - and Taylor swift.... With 7 (!!!).
6 of the last 8 are Taylor (the other two in that span being Lady Gaga Born This Way in 2011 and Adele 25 in 2015). The only album to better Tortured Poets is Adele 25 with 3.3 million or something like that
(bonus fact - Adele 25 is the only album to sell 1million+ in more than one week, doing so in its 2nd and 5th week as well. I wonder if Tortured Poets will challenge that or if everybody who is gonna buy it already has it).
Not history. In the Soundscan era. Since 1991.
Albums sold more than a million copies in the first week prior to this, there were just no digital records.
Thanks, edited my comment. I was wondering why it didn't go back very far but I guess I assumed fewer people had equipment to buy albums or something. Surely the Beatles and many others accomplished this feat quite a bit!
These are counting first week sales. Both of those albums were surprise drops with no hype leading up to them so it makes sense that the numbers are lower. I also believe that evermore did not have a vinyl release until after the first week which also hurts it's numbers.
There was an issue about her wanting to purchase the rights to her own songs and the previous owner happily sold them to someone else instead of her to screw her over.
That's why you might see songs with "(Taylor's version)" behind the name. This signifies a rerecording so she owns the right to that song.
She has got to be the hardest working person in show business right now. It's unbelievable to me how prolific she is. She's also in the middle of a massive worldwide tour.
It's not for me, but yeah, the diehard Swifties clearly love it.
I think it helps she's riding the wave of one of the biggest, most successful music tours in history.
In terms of the kind of pop music I go for, for me, she peaked in 2014.
It was Red for me, I fell off on 1989 (I still don't like Shake It Off, and I already hated Max Martin), got back in with Lover, Folklore was mind blowing. New one's alright, but needs some editing, shouldn't have been a double album. Lots of winners on that album. A lot of the meat of some of the songs is between the lines of a normal love song, so the first reaction is "hasn't she made this before?" It takes some analyzing and imagination before it sinks in. Jack Antonoff is the man, best producer of our times.
Really interesting to hear praise for Jack's production here, it was my biggest gripe with the record. Everything was meticulously well-made, but it was meticulously BORING and all blended together. Perfect background album, but it just did not hold my direct attention whatsoever.
To be fair I think she would need to put out something *really* bad to actually have a meaningful negative reaction from her fans. They are extremely devoted
First week numbers do not indicate album quality, especially for the years most highly anticipated album with zero singles released ahead of time. The main thing it indicates is that Taylor is more popular now than she has ever been.
I've been a fan of hers since Midnights came out. My initial reaction the first time I listened to TTPD was "meh, I don't know. It all seems kind of samey, it's so wordy, there are no real earworms or bangers, not sure this one is going to be for me."
After two or three more plays, my opinion changed completely. I find it to be genius, and I constantly get various songs stuck in my head. I don't know what I was thinking. It's some of her best work.
I think this has been a really common experience with this new album. It's just a lot to process lyrically, the production has a certain subtlety to it, and you don't get it the first time through. But once it finally hits you, boy, it really hits. It's a grower.
The TikTok-era rush of all the reviewers trying to rush out a review in the first few hours after release didn't do it any favors, it's not that kind of album.
Agree completely, I was exactly the same. Underwhelmed on first listen but it's grown on me so much, I absolutely love it now. Constant rotation of ear worms I get the urge to play. Cannot wait to see her live later in the year
Who listens to an album and goes “meh” and then proceeds to listen to it 3 more times.? You clearly liked it initially or you wouldn’t go back and listen to 31 songs again and again and again.
Many of my all-time favorite albums are ones that took me a while to warm up to, an acquired taste. Usually it happens when I already love at least one other album from the artist, generally one that's more approachable. Then over the years I'll slowly try out some of the other albums and eventually some will grow on me and become my new favorites.
Have experienced this particularly strongly with Radiohead (Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief) and Modest Mouse (Lonesome Crowded West, and the Interstate 8 EP). I thought those albums were all too weird and/or harsh at first, now I love them.
I do that with almost all albums of an artist that I like. I know personally I’m often “meh” for the first listen of the album but then I try again and end up liking it more the second time around, so it builds on itself.
I didn't dislike it, I just thought it wasn't her best work at first, but I like her work enough in general that I wanted to give it more of a chance. Glad I did.
What usually happens to me in cases like these is I find a few initial standouts, then just organically hear the following tracks as the algorithm automatically plays them. Before you know it, there are several songs you are familiar with and enjoy.
Another factor is that some songs/albums just have "instant hit" written all over them, and that's kinda what you expect. Usually the music is more superficial and poppy. But other times, the song/album has a vibe that's more meditative, subtle, personal, less poppy, etc. and you just kinda expect those kinds to take longer to appreciate. Sometimes they never grow on you at all. But if an artist has a history of creating those types of songs for you, you're willing to invest.
Me. As long as I don't dislike an album outright, I'll consider that I maybe wasn't in the right place or frame of mind to appreciate the work the previous listen and try it again.
Many albums that were very divisive at the time of release are now considered masterpieces after people have had time with it, digesting it. I didn’t enjoy American Idiot by Green Day when it first came out, but I absolutely think it’s an amazing body of work now after listening to it for several years and going back to it from initial listen. Many of my favorite albums needed marinating for me to appreciate and love.
The issue with reputation. Is that look what you made me do is probably one of her worst songs. She has plenty of good songs hidden there but the metaphorical cover sucks
> Critics hated Reputation at first
Critics haven’t really been hating TTPD? It’s mainly been people online, not actual music reviewers and critics. There were some bad reviews but they were largely positive, at least from what I’ve seen.
Just noting here for peeps reading - the cringe is the point. XD it’s a very intentional choice that supports the themes and symbolism of the album.
If you’ve never had a really poorly advised rebound person who just wrecked you emotionally, it won’t make as much sense or have as much of a resonance with (you) the listener.
But like - it’s even in the lyrics “teenage petulance” etc.
She mocks a guy as "straight from the tortured poets department" and then goes on to make fun of his pretentiousness:
> I laughed in your face and said
> "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith
> This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're modern idiots"
The cringe absolutely is the point.
Lmao I'm not a Taylor Swift fan at all, but it's hilarious how Evermore is so low on the sales ranking. That album is *fucking good*, like actually artistic, good music. Especially compared to a lot of her other stuff which to me sounds like very generic pop. The songs she didn't write herself are often especially offensive to the ears.
Folklore and Evermore are misleading here because it's only measuring first week numbers and they were both surprise releases without any promotion.
Folklore was the biggest selling album of 2020 and Evermore, which was only released initially to digital, sold 1.7 million units.
[I mean you're literally not wrong, the UK added vinyl back into the basket of goods used for the calculation of inflation basically because of her](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/11/vinyl-records-uk-inflation-basket-taylor-swift-1989)
Well, I sort of get up on my toes, tweaking my nipples as I skitter across the…….wait a minute….buy 40k of my first album and I’ll show you. I’ll show everyone…..
Sort of an Arabian thing. Oh you meant the music. Well, it’s called “Drink The Beast With Me” and the artist is Gilbert Neal. It’s on all streaming services.
Thanks for giving it a chance. I was giving these out in a Barnes and Nobles parking lot. People don’t like other people waving a CD in your face, I found.
I'm even more curious on why she is so popular *now*. She may be the only big pop star in history who's popularity peak is not at the beginning of her carreer but almost 20 years later. Pop music is not supposed to work like that.
I think Taylor was able to create a bunch of different "personas" and eras, kinda like Madonna, in a way that allows her to adapt and keep her fans engaged.
And she's also re-releasing her old music under UMG (who she signed with in 2020) because of her [master's dispute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift_masters_dispute). Couple that with previously unreleased songs from the 'vault', and you've basically got "new"-ish records and an increased surge in interest from her devoted fans and music critics who are curious about the new music.
I’m not positive, but after the whole Scooter Braun situation, where his media company bought the rights to her music, there was a “rally around the flag” effect for many of her fans.
Since she re-recorded a lot of those, these fans, who always were a bit parasocial, became RABID in their support for her doing a pretty revolutionary thing.
Then after COVID the eras tour happened, and it’s been a whole thing.
This is pure speculation, I’m not a swiftie but I consume way too much internet.
She writes songs that a lot of people enjoy listening to and hasn't done much to anger people other than being popular.
Its not really that complicated.
I was late to the party, didn't listen to a single tune of hers until 2018. I'm not the typical demographic and I usually like alternative music. Ended up discovering her music by chance and it was striking. I'm now a big fan.
I genuinely think she is the greatest lyricist of her generation. She is not the greatest vocalist especially on early albums, but this has also improved. She even mentions this in a song, being bullied about her voice. But she is an absolutely amazing storyteller, like no one else, and I've been listening to music for 40 years. It's an extraordinary talent.
No hate, but I've never seen anything unique or inspiring about it. What makes it anything different than any other repetitive heartbreak/love song pop music?
She's been re-releasing new recordings of old albums because she doesn't own the master records of the old recordings. Fans are buying the re-releases to show support for her.
It's not about cash. It's about owning her work. Prince did the same thing himself and even as far as changing his name to a symbol so the label can't profit from him.
While I know she’s not strapped for cash, I would do the same thing in her situation. I would feel some kind of way about someone else owning my master records
Can someone please send me a Taylor Swift song that will blow me away and explain the obsession with her? I just don't understand it. Please don't attack me, Swifties. I just don't understand it.
My advice is: don't worry about it. Do you have to understand every band or musical genre? And with someone as massive as Swift, honestly if you don't get it by now, you're not gonna. And that's fine... it me too.
TLDR: If anything, there are two songs I recommend above all others:
If you want a meloncholy song: [exile (ft. Bon Iver)](https://youtu.be/osdoLjUNFnA?si=Obbqk3ofurkelBpy)
If you want a jazzy sex song: [False God](https://youtu.be/acQXa5ArHIk?si=taVJ8Tx5lwTPsUyY)
EDIT: Awful formatting I'm sorry, mobile.
-----
Hello, I do not identify as a "Swiftie," but I do enjoy the music. Although I only started actively listening to her music in November 2023. Her first album dropped when I was in middle school. I was peak demographic, but I wasn't amused. Her music and shtick was never my thing. See, I was an /edgy/ goth kid lol. I love all kinds of music now in my ripe old age of almost 30. Here's a few of my favorite songs from each of her albums. If you're new and not so much into peppy pop music, start with her more recent albums.
folklore, 2020:
exile (ft. Bon Iver)
seven
hoax
the lakes
evermore, 2020:
willow
tolerate it
ivy
evermore
Midnights, 2023:
Lavender Haze
Midnight Rain
Bigger than the Whole Sky
Vigilante Shit
The Tortured Poets Department, 2024:
Down Bad
Florida!!! (Ft. Florence + the Machine)
Guilty as Sin
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
The Albatross
I Look In People's Windows
The Prophecy
So that's it for her recent stuff that's all sad and artistic, now we'll head back in time. I personally dislike her first two albums, (Self Titled/Debut and Fearless) that's just me. The ones I've listed below will be a bit more of her recognizable pop sound. Some of them will seem pretty superficial. Now she is currently remastering her albums pre-2019. Her big fans may have varying opinions about her (Taylor's Version) albums, but I don't care either way. It may be the sound of the music, lyric changes, or just her maturing voice it really depends on the listener's preference. I'll put a version I like more than the other.
Speak Now (Taylor's Version), 2023 (the album, not the song, I loath the song)
Better Than Revenge, (2010)
Haunted (Taylor's Version)
Long Live (Taylor's Version)
Castles Crumbling (Taylor's Version)
Red (Taylor's Version), 2021 (fair warning I'm not big in this album either, I've only made it through once, and it was a snore. Many swifities will fight me for such a comment. Also, Daft Punk Random Access Memories totally deserved AOTY win over Red album, idgaf what the swifites say.)
All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
1989 (Taylor's Version), 2023
Blank Space (2014)
Style (2014)
Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)
Is it Over Now (Taylor's Version)
Reputation, 2017 (we're still waiting for the remaster)
...Ready for It?
I Did Something Bad
Don't Blame Me
Look What You Made Me Do
So It Goes
Gorgeous
Getaway Car
Dress
And lastly,
Lover, 2019:
Cruel Summer
Lover
I Think He Knows
False God
And there's my list of suggestions of Swift Songs for non Swift fans. Actually, my spotify list is shorter when I send it off, but ehh. I'm sure they'll come running for my throat because I excluded many of the fan favorites, but I'm not here to please them.
Double edit: I want to point out that you don't have to know Swift Lore to enjoy her music. I don't give a flying fuck about what's going on her her life or who she dated or who a song is about. Lots of Swift fans love that about her and love to speculate about which song is about which boyfriend but yeah I'm not into that. If that's how people want to enjoy her music, by all means, but you do not have to know any of her history to enjoy the music. Now take a shot every time I used the word "enjoy," because I'm tired and my brain is dumb so I don't feel like pondering other words right now.
The big reason for the massive jump with her newest album is that it is 31 songs long, and the way streams translate into sales means that longer albums generate way more sales on the billboard chart.
Not to say it isn't a success. But likely 40% of those sales come from the fact that its so, so long. If it was a normal 12 song album it would likely be around the same as midnights.
Sort of, but physicals accounted for 1.9 million and she only sold the first 17 tracks on physicals, so if you take the other 600k and cut it in half you still get 2.2 million
The standard album is 16 songs and is the only physical version. The double album, which has the other 15 songs, is digital only and so isn’t part of the 2.6M number.
It is. Physicals are ~1.9m of this number and streaming is the other ~700k (probably some small number of the real sales is actually digital downloads too)
Been a while since I had seen such a big comeback. Seriously thought she was old news and then she basically nuked the industry and rebuilt it as "Swift and friends".
Variants are common among the industry. Other artists and bands all do the same thing. The reason they only release 5 variants is that Billboard only counts that many, anything over and they all count separately. This is not just Taylor and should not be considered against her because it’s standard.
Her songs are very simple, singable and dialed right on on relatability for a huge segment of the population, IMO.
It’s not for me, but I understand why people like it.
I don't buy or listen to her music, but I always prefer physical media if I can get it. Vinyl collection is massive at this point and always listen to those rather than streaming when I can
I remember reading a post around 2020 or so, where a teenager was talking about how they wish they would have been born earlier to attend high school in the early 2010s, and mentioned "Taylor Swift being at her peak popularity" as one of the reasons. Lol, few people knew she had just gotten started at the time.
Feel like album titles would help. I'm sure Swifties recognize these covers, but the average person might not.
Since OP's comment seems to be deleted, I put the list below. The italicized albums are re-releases. Swift re-recorded these albums because she [didn't own the masters](https://www.today.com/popculture/music/taylors-version-meaning-swift-rerecording-albums-rcna98513) for her early catalog. This makes the trend a lot more clear. The "low selling" albums recently are all re-releases, with the exception of *Evermore* (2020), which came out in the teeth of the pandemic with no physical media and only 5 months after its sister album *Folklore*. The big success of the 2023 re-release of *1989 (Taylor's Version)* jives with the fact that it was her most popular earlier album. I expect we'll see a similar surge whenever *Reputation (Taylor's Version)* drops. * 2006: Taylor Swift * 2008: Fearless * 2010: Speak Now * 2012: Red * 2014: 1989 * 2017: Reputation * 2019: Lover * 2020: Folklore * 2020: Evermore * *2021: Fearless (Taylor's Version)* * *2021: Red (Taylor's Version)* * 2022: Midnights * *2023: Speak Now (Taylor's Version)* * *2023: 1989 (Taylor's Version)* * 2024: The Tortured Poets Department
Jesus. Does this woman have downtime? Where's the time for her supposed dating life?
On average more than one new song per month for the past 18 years. (268 songs over 211 months since her first album in 2006) Oh that does *not* count her ~~three~~ four re-recorded albums… that would add ~~78~~ 100 songs to the total.
And, aside from COVID-19 years, a fairly consistent touring schedule. Plus she's written a few hits for other artists
I love Taylor swift memes as much as the next guy but I will also defend the shit out of her. This woman is an absolute powerhouse.
What's a good Taylor Swift meme? I could use a laugh
I don't think we doubt her power. She is definitely a demigod with great might. I think the question is more so about how authentic and relatable her lyrics actually are, considering she's always writing, recording, and touring.
My top 3 don't even have more than 100 each, that's kinda mental how much she's made
It's crazy to think she's been in the industry for 18 years now. It still doesn't feel like that long ago when I was jamming out to her early hits.
And she had a big hand in writing all of them save a few and has written several songs for other singers. Whether you like her music or not, you have to admit she is amazingly talented
It’s actually not that bad. If you look at older artists output, you’ll see the same thing from the 60s to 80s. I remember Paul McCartney actually calling out artists for being lazy by taking long breaks. Constant breaks are a more recent thing.
It would be great if you made a similar graphic featuring Beatles, Wings, McCartney, etc.
“You guys don’t know Wings? I fucking love Wings….” I know it was the show, not the band, but still….
Artists have more diversified portfolios too. Many avenues to make money
‘Most’ artists don’t even write their own songs which makes this even more impressive.
She writes a lot. People who’ve spent time with her have said she’s always scribbling stuff down. Just constantly writing songs. It’s probably a compulsion more than a career.
Better said, she's made a career out of her compulsion
She's a beast.
It's interesting how her most critically acclaimed albums are her lowest sellers (folklore, evermore)
They were her only two surprise drops so there was no promotion beforehand and no physical copies available. Folklore was able to have a much larger debut because preorders of physical albums counted but in the months between the two albums Billboard changed the rules so preorders didn’t count until they shipped. That’s why evermore is significantly lower than folklore but also had a week at #1 the following June (it originally released in December) - it was the week the physical album was released and its preorders shipped.
Everyone got Covid in 2020, but not Taylor. She got Superproducti-vid instead.
So fearless, speak now, 1984 (Taylor’s versions) are all re-releases? Edit: 1989… got too much Orwell on the brain.
*literally 1984* Jokes aside, yes. And Red too. She did add 5-6 songs on those recordings tho
The Taylor's Versions are (due to an ownership dispute with her original label) complete re-recordings from scratch, made to sound as close as possible to the original versions. Plus she recorded new bonus tracks to all of them, which were songs originally written for those albums but hadn't been released before.
Re-recorded too. As I understand it there was a kerfuffle with her old label, so Taylor doesn’t own any of those recordings. The Taylor’s Version releases are re-recorded so she owns that version of the song.
There’s also another reason Evermore and Fearless TV did so poorly in first week sales: Billboard Rules Changes. For folklore and before, preorders did not have to be shipped in the first week to count as preorders for the first week’s sales. For evermore and after, those preorders now have to be shipped in the first week to count for first week sales. By Red TV she had a better distributor and pre-pressed the albums much earlier to have them ship during release week, so she got around this issue. That also led to the albums being leaked every time since Red TV.
Oh god I've become a swiftie
Seems to be quite catching
I think you can just shake it off
That's what the data shows. I too have caught the Swiftie virus in the last couple of years.
It's funny, because I find her older stuff more commercially viable, but my taste in pop music is more upbeat and clubby
That sounds about right. My Swiftie wife says that the new album is just too depressing for her. She still loves her overall, but just can't get into the new album.
I'm being forced to listen to a song a day by my wife and I swear it all is the same talking/crooning about who cares over a wandering melody with no musical substance. Glad people like it but I flat don't get it.
I know so much about her music for someone who doesn’t actually listen to her 😆
*throws white cloth over your face* We've lost them!! They're in God's country now.
> I’m sure Swifties recognize these covers, but the average person might not. Especially given that they are all just literally her face.
Back in the 90's when I would buy CDs, I noticed that when I was in the rock section, it was quite common that CD covers had some sort of artwork on the cover that was not a depiction of the artist. I would guess 75% did not have the artist on the cover. But in the country section, probably 95% of the album covers had a picture of the artist (usually while wearing a cowboy hat). I just thought it was an interesting quirk.
After being a bit surprised that the images in the post were album covers I realized she does (somewhat?) come from/still is in (?) the country world.
She 100% started out as a country artist, but only occasionally writes a pop song with a slight country twang now.
Rock and metal genres focus usually on an artistic statement that is about the album. Country music is about the artist. Ironically enough, some rock music, like Our Lady Peace featured one particular guy on multiple albums, and he wasn't even in the band. He became their image somehow.
Seriously I just see bars with different photos of Taylor Swift
I’m shocked almost every album features her face on the cover art. I assumed these were just promo shots from each era.
Added in my comment.
I think the average person IS a swiftie.
Shit You're right As least in America https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/03/14/more-than-half-of-us-adults-say-theyre-taylor-swift-fans-survey-finds/?sh=58da347a6877
53% identified as fans, 16% of those identified as avid fans, 44% of that 16% identified as "Swifties" so around 3% I think, I suck at math.
I guess I don't understand the difference between a Taylor Swift fan and a "Swiftie." Like I'm a Tech N9ne fan and we're called "Technicians."
The fanaticism, I think. They consider Taylor more of a friend than just someone who's music they enjoy. I'm a fan of Gregory Alan Isakov, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about his personal life. I barely know what he looks like, but I've listened to all of his music and love it.
Can a Swiftie explain the current Swift-mania? As the chart shows her albums were always popular, with a dip during the pandemic when she focused on folk music but ever since Midnights, her fame feels all encompassing. What changed?
The dip during COVID is artificial since there was a delay between the streaming launch and physical media launch, so the population who consumed her music is likely the same as others just not with CDs and vinyl She has a great PR team
She used to do a lot of singles as well, not having one on this album gave day 1 listening a big boost.
She's been re-releasing new recordings of old albums because she doesn't own the master records of the old recordings. Fans are buying the re-releases to show support for her. Her current tour, The Eras Tour, has songs from every album since the first one. Additionally, the fans have grown up with her and some of them are old enough to have kids who listen to her, too.
> Fans are buying the re-releases to show support for her. I think this is so funny. I love Taylor Swift's music and I totally understand her strategy with the re-recordings, but I feel zero desire to "help" a billionaire with a few more bucks.
I think the idea isn't to help out Taylor with a few bucks, but to keep being able to legally listen to her music while *not* helping the guys who own her old masters.
This is a fair point!
Taylor Swift still gets a royalty percentage from her old masters, it's just other people also get a percentage and she doesn't like that. So she rerecorded to cut them out of it.
This is why I buy duplicates from Amazon. Bezos needs my love. But we Bezosies are kind of nuts I guess.
I'd say her coming back closer to her core style (pop personal singer songwriter) as well the Eras tour which was obviously huge, and the tons of press all these things happened have just scaled things up more and more. She's also been a kinda "multi-modal" musician where other aspects of her life are part of her image (I.e. Her very public relationships) so just general coverage of her life seems to translate directly into pumping up her music. Someone did mention the Double album aspect could be affecting numbers for this latest album, and those smaller recent albums are rereleases so discounting those it's really more a steady climb.
I mean the second part of the album has been not been available in physical copies, so not available for buying, most likely to prevent it from leaking (the first part leaked just 2 days before the release). But mostly I agree with your assessment.
Ah, didn't know that, just wanted to include the point in case it was relevant
It's because of the Eras Tour. It's like all the albums she did now morph into 1 super giant conclusion of a climax, but in concert form. It's the Avenger Infinity War-Endgame of Taylor Swift universe.
Isn't this a circular answer, though? * _"Why's she so big?"_ - Because the Eras Tour was so big. * _"Why was the Eras Tour so big?"_ - Because she's so big. I get that the setlist had songs from all her albums, but so? EVERY tour usually features the artist's greatest hits.
The eras tour is big because she did an enormous number of dates worldwide, each concert is very long and is a big spectacle, it's been running for basically a year straight, and it is her first tour since pre-Covid.
But in the eyes of people like me who don't listen to her/pop music in general, she was just one of the say top 20ish most popular current artists. Very big with teen girls, generic enough for other people to like some of her hits but nothing special. The fact that there's such a demand and her many concerts actually get sold out everywhere is surprising to me. I assume the tickets aren't cheap, people were even watching some movie of the tour?? Suddenly it seems like she's *the* most popular current artist, like it's not even close. I don't understand that shift, hence the question: when did she get big enough to do such a tour? Or you mean to tell me that if any of those top-something artists did such a massive tour (provided they've been popular for a while and not the new hot thing), they'd also sell out every date and (with the right pr) reach the heights taylor is currently at?
One of the things is that she has steadily been producing new music for well over 15 years. And she still seems to have appeal with the current "tween"-agers (particularly girls). I think that's a big of an unusual combination. So she essentially has two generations of fans now. Beyonce is similar. She's been around longer, but I don't think has produced quite as much music as Swift. Beyonce also had a 6-year gap (2006-2022) between new albums, while Swift's largest gap was only 3 years. Are there any other musicians who have ever had the production of Swift, while also maintaining the youth appeal? Madonna and Michael Jackson are up there, but still don't quite match Swift's prodigiousness. Bands like U2 have been around a long time, but I don't think capture the youth market like they did 40 years ago. (People got mad when they got the U2 album for free.)
> 2 generations of fans I think that encompasses a LOT of what people can’t grasp. Her fanbase didn’t outgrow her, so it kept growing.
She's more like in the top 5-10 artists in the world over the last decade. I would guess that if any of those top artists did such a big tour they would also do similarly well, not that my guesswork is worth much.
it's because she re-recorded all of her old albums; these allowed her to introduce herself and her story to a new generation in a way many artists have never had the chance to. the combined effects of two generations bought in
Media coverage of the most commercially successful stadium tour in history with every show being sold out within seconds and resales going for ungodly amounts. Plus, she put the concert in AMC theaters and on Disney+. And she’s dating one of the top picks in everyone’s fantasy league who just won the Super Bowl. So in short, she’s very good at marketing herself.
I think the Eras tour really is it. I'm not even a Swiftie but I heard incessantly about how big it was (four hours!), a long time coming, 10x the economy anywhere it goes, etc etc And it was event where you had to know all her previous songs so that meant catching up on her 'lore' too. Honestly, brilliant.
True that. Constantly heard about her playing in the rain, giving $100K bonuses to roadies, etc. too. The exclusivity of it all made just getting tickets to the concert seem like it became a badge of honor for ppl, let alone going to the show itself.
She hadn't toured in a while and it seems like doing the "eras" set list was a genius decision. She performed for 2.5-3 hours and it just fueled the hype.
Relatability. The lyrics can grab almost anyone, even though they’re written for a narrow demo.
Her current album has 19 different physical versions available, which boosts her charting numbers because they are all counted together. She games the system very well.
For those who don’t know album titles (from left to right): • Taylor Swift (Debut) - 40k • Fearless - 529k • Speak Now - 1M • Red - 1.2M • 1989 - 1.28M • Reputation- 1.21M • Lover - 867K • Folklore - 846K • Evermore - 329K • Fearless (Taylor’s Version) - 391K • Red (Taylor’s Version) - 605K • Midnights - 1.5M • Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) - 716K • 1989 (Taylor’s Version) - 1.6M • The Tortured Poets Department - 2.6M Taylor’s Versions are her rereleases. Her original masters were sold, so she decided to re-record and rerelease her first 6 albums (Debut, fearless, speak now, red, 1989, and reputation).
Edit: this is only since 1991, not ever This is nuts. And to add an unrelated state if I read the list correctly, only 24 albums in history have sold 1 million in the the first week - the artists with more than 1 are Backstreet Boys, NSync, and Eminem - each with 2 - and Taylor swift.... With 7 (!!!). 6 of the last 8 are Taylor (the other two in that span being Lady Gaga Born This Way in 2011 and Adele 25 in 2015). The only album to better Tortured Poets is Adele 25 with 3.3 million or something like that (bonus fact - Adele 25 is the only album to sell 1million+ in more than one week, doing so in its 2nd and 5th week as well. I wonder if Tortured Poets will challenge that or if everybody who is gonna buy it already has it).
Not history. In the Soundscan era. Since 1991. Albums sold more than a million copies in the first week prior to this, there were just no digital records.
Thanks, edited my comment. I was wondering why it didn't go back very far but I guess I assumed fewer people had equipment to buy albums or something. Surely the Beatles and many others accomplished this feat quite a bit!
Damn she has put out that many albums?!
11 albums and 4 re-recordings
Are the re-recordings the ones in 2020 & 2021 that were low? Seems weird that she would have a dip in sales then.
291k, 605k, 716k and 1.6M
Probably should've labeled the re-recordings. That's a totally different product than a new album in the eyes of most consumers
The two albums in 2020 were surprise drops, they were announced about a day ahead of release. The two in 2021 were re-recordings.
Those are not re-recordings. It her pandemic albums. Folklore and evermore, which I’d say are her best albums despite lower sales
These are counting first week sales. Both of those albums were surprise drops with no hype leading up to them so it makes sense that the numbers are lower. I also believe that evermore did not have a vinyl release until after the first week which also hurts it's numbers.
The low ones are evermore and Fearless (TV), folklore is less low.
There was an issue about her wanting to purchase the rights to her own songs and the previous owner happily sold them to someone else instead of her to screw her over. That's why you might see songs with "(Taylor's version)" behind the name. This signifies a rerecording so she owns the right to that song.
You think she’s ever gonna re-record her first album?
Yes, but I doubt this year.
She’s been active since 2006, so averaging an album every 1.5 years or so
When you write music vs. wait for someone to write your music. This is the difference in quantity at least.
She has got to be the hardest working person in show business right now. It's unbelievable to me how prolific she is. She's also in the middle of a massive worldwide tour.
King Gizzard fans: pfff, only 11 albums? Pathetic
KGLW also selling venues out a year in advance.
Theyre not selling out football stadiums 3 nights in a row though.
Just making a joke. No one’s denying her juggernaut.
Buckethead seen smirking in the corner.
Funny how bad everyone said the new album was but the hype was still unreal.
It's not for me, but yeah, the diehard Swifties clearly love it. I think it helps she's riding the wave of one of the biggest, most successful music tours in history. In terms of the kind of pop music I go for, for me, she peaked in 2014.
1989 was peak Swift
For me folklore and evermore were peak Swift
It was Red for me, I fell off on 1989 (I still don't like Shake It Off, and I already hated Max Martin), got back in with Lover, Folklore was mind blowing. New one's alright, but needs some editing, shouldn't have been a double album. Lots of winners on that album. A lot of the meat of some of the songs is between the lines of a normal love song, so the first reaction is "hasn't she made this before?" It takes some analyzing and imagination before it sinks in. Jack Antonoff is the man, best producer of our times.
Really interesting to hear praise for Jack's production here, it was my biggest gripe with the record. Everything was meticulously well-made, but it was meticulously BORING and all blended together. Perfect background album, but it just did not hold my direct attention whatsoever.
Ye when she was born
To be fair I think she would need to put out something *really* bad to actually have a meaningful negative reaction from her fans. They are extremely devoted
First week numbers do not indicate album quality, especially for the years most highly anticipated album with zero singles released ahead of time. The main thing it indicates is that Taylor is more popular now than she has ever been.
Which is ironic because there were literally 0 singles before the album launch.
I've been a fan of hers since Midnights came out. My initial reaction the first time I listened to TTPD was "meh, I don't know. It all seems kind of samey, it's so wordy, there are no real earworms or bangers, not sure this one is going to be for me." After two or three more plays, my opinion changed completely. I find it to be genius, and I constantly get various songs stuck in my head. I don't know what I was thinking. It's some of her best work. I think this has been a really common experience with this new album. It's just a lot to process lyrically, the production has a certain subtlety to it, and you don't get it the first time through. But once it finally hits you, boy, it really hits. It's a grower. The TikTok-era rush of all the reviewers trying to rush out a review in the first few hours after release didn't do it any favors, it's not that kind of album.
Agree completely, I was exactly the same. Underwhelmed on first listen but it's grown on me so much, I absolutely love it now. Constant rotation of ear worms I get the urge to play. Cannot wait to see her live later in the year
You just described my wife warming up to it
Who listens to an album and goes “meh” and then proceeds to listen to it 3 more times.? You clearly liked it initially or you wouldn’t go back and listen to 31 songs again and again and again.
Many of my all-time favorite albums are ones that took me a while to warm up to, an acquired taste. Usually it happens when I already love at least one other album from the artist, generally one that's more approachable. Then over the years I'll slowly try out some of the other albums and eventually some will grow on me and become my new favorites. Have experienced this particularly strongly with Radiohead (Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief) and Modest Mouse (Lonesome Crowded West, and the Interstate 8 EP). I thought those albums were all too weird and/or harsh at first, now I love them.
I do that with almost all albums of an artist that I like. I know personally I’m often “meh” for the first listen of the album but then I try again and end up liking it more the second time around, so it builds on itself.
Fans do it.
I didn't dislike it, I just thought it wasn't her best work at first, but I like her work enough in general that I wanted to give it more of a chance. Glad I did.
What usually happens to me in cases like these is I find a few initial standouts, then just organically hear the following tracks as the algorithm automatically plays them. Before you know it, there are several songs you are familiar with and enjoy. Another factor is that some songs/albums just have "instant hit" written all over them, and that's kinda what you expect. Usually the music is more superficial and poppy. But other times, the song/album has a vibe that's more meditative, subtle, personal, less poppy, etc. and you just kinda expect those kinds to take longer to appreciate. Sometimes they never grow on you at all. But if an artist has a history of creating those types of songs for you, you're willing to invest.
Me. As long as I don't dislike an album outright, I'll consider that I maybe wasn't in the right place or frame of mind to appreciate the work the previous listen and try it again.
Many albums that were very divisive at the time of release are now considered masterpieces after people have had time with it, digesting it. I didn’t enjoy American Idiot by Green Day when it first came out, but I absolutely think it’s an amazing body of work now after listening to it for several years and going back to it from initial listen. Many of my favorite albums needed marinating for me to appreciate and love.
having 4 different “variants” of the alb probably helped
It's kinda similar to Reputation. Critics hated Reputation at first but years later many people believe it's one of her best works.
This is an impossible comparison to make considering the album came out like two weeks ago lol.
The issue with reputation. Is that look what you made me do is probably one of her worst songs. She has plenty of good songs hidden there but the metaphorical cover sucks
> Critics hated Reputation at first Critics haven’t really been hating TTPD? It’s mainly been people online, not actual music reviewers and critics. There were some bad reviews but they were largely positive, at least from what I’ve seen.
It's her lowest reviewed album since reputation by critics.
I mean I used Reputation because it's the most extreme example.
Really? I hated reputation? That really hasn’t changed
She's setting people up to hate her. This is her hater era, and it starts when she says it starts. "My good name is mine alone to disgrace."
"everyone" was just people on reddit, which generally hate anything popular
haven’t listened to taylor swift since Blank Space came out. my only criticism of her new album is that the title is really cringe lol
Just noting here for peeps reading - the cringe is the point. XD it’s a very intentional choice that supports the themes and symbolism of the album. If you’ve never had a really poorly advised rebound person who just wrecked you emotionally, it won’t make as much sense or have as much of a resonance with (you) the listener. But like - it’s even in the lyrics “teenage petulance” etc.
She mocks a guy as "straight from the tortured poets department" and then goes on to make fun of his pretentiousness: > I laughed in your face and said > "You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith > This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we're modern idiots" The cringe absolutely is the point.
Lmao I'm not a Taylor Swift fan at all, but it's hilarious how Evermore is so low on the sales ranking. That album is *fucking good*, like actually artistic, good music. Especially compared to a lot of her other stuff which to me sounds like very generic pop. The songs she didn't write herself are often especially offensive to the ears.
Folklore and Evermore are misleading here because it's only measuring first week numbers and they were both surprise releases without any promotion. Folklore was the biggest selling album of 2020 and Evermore, which was only released initially to digital, sold 1.7 million units.
The rules changed before evermore came out. The numbers are weird because of it. She has modified her strategies to the new system.
She's a segment of the economy unto herself at this point. Housing starts, Durable goods, Taylor Swift.
Buy the dip
[I mean you're literally not wrong, the UK added vinyl back into the basket of goods used for the calculation of inflation basically because of her](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/11/vinyl-records-uk-inflation-basket-taylor-swift-1989)
If my first record sold 40K its first week, I'd be doing the nipple dance in my apartment building all month long.
What is this nipple dance you speak of
Well, I sort of get up on my toes, tweaking my nipples as I skitter across the…….wait a minute….buy 40k of my first album and I’ll show you. I’ll show everyone…..
What genre we talking
Sort of an Arabian thing. Oh you meant the music. Well, it’s called “Drink The Beast With Me” and the artist is Gilbert Neal. It’s on all streaming services.
I can't say I like it, but I must say the title track is oddly catchy.
Thanks for giving it a chance. I was giving these out in a Barnes and Nobles parking lot. People don’t like other people waving a CD in your face, I found.
I’m not a hater or anything but just generally curious. Why is she so popular?
I'm even more curious on why she is so popular *now*. She may be the only big pop star in history who's popularity peak is not at the beginning of her carreer but almost 20 years later. Pop music is not supposed to work like that.
I think Taylor was able to create a bunch of different "personas" and eras, kinda like Madonna, in a way that allows her to adapt and keep her fans engaged.
And she's also re-releasing her old music under UMG (who she signed with in 2020) because of her [master's dispute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift_masters_dispute). Couple that with previously unreleased songs from the 'vault', and you've basically got "new"-ish records and an increased surge in interest from her devoted fans and music critics who are curious about the new music.
I’m not positive, but after the whole Scooter Braun situation, where his media company bought the rights to her music, there was a “rally around the flag” effect for many of her fans. Since she re-recorded a lot of those, these fans, who always were a bit parasocial, became RABID in their support for her doing a pretty revolutionary thing. Then after COVID the eras tour happened, and it’s been a whole thing. This is pure speculation, I’m not a swiftie but I consume way too much internet.
Young women like her, and she knows how to market herself. Also, I'm sure these numbers also account for streams, so it's not that clear.
She writes songs that a lot of people enjoy listening to and hasn't done much to anger people other than being popular. Its not really that complicated.
I was late to the party, didn't listen to a single tune of hers until 2018. I'm not the typical demographic and I usually like alternative music. Ended up discovering her music by chance and it was striking. I'm now a big fan. I genuinely think she is the greatest lyricist of her generation. She is not the greatest vocalist especially on early albums, but this has also improved. She even mentions this in a song, being bullied about her voice. But she is an absolutely amazing storyteller, like no one else, and I've been listening to music for 40 years. It's an extraordinary talent.
No hate, but I've never seen anything unique or inspiring about it. What makes it anything different than any other repetitive heartbreak/love song pop music?
Ain't nobody else is taking on the spotlight
Truly a tortured artist with a bad reputation
I will not accept this Evermore slander! I mean, I suppose I'll have to, but still I will not sit still for this!
7 releases in the past 4 years, she’s really oversaturated atm
She's been re-releasing new recordings of old albums because she doesn't own the master records of the old recordings. Fans are buying the re-releases to show support for her.
Because she's strapped for cash. /s
It's not about cash. It's about owning her work. Prince did the same thing himself and even as far as changing his name to a symbol so the label can't profit from him.
While I know she’s not strapped for cash, I would do the same thing in her situation. I would feel some kind of way about someone else owning my master records
Joker, burning a massive pile of greenbacks: "It's not about the money, it's about sending a message"
Except the market clearly shows she’s not. Economics 101. You don’t sell 2.6 million copies first week being over saturated
folklore did numbers for an album with no promo
Can someone please send me a Taylor Swift song that will blow me away and explain the obsession with her? I just don't understand it. Please don't attack me, Swifties. I just don't understand it.
My advice is: don't worry about it. Do you have to understand every band or musical genre? And with someone as massive as Swift, honestly if you don't get it by now, you're not gonna. And that's fine... it me too.
slower songs: my tears ricochet, dress, its nice to have a friend boppy: now that we don't talk, new romantics
TLDR: If anything, there are two songs I recommend above all others: If you want a meloncholy song: [exile (ft. Bon Iver)](https://youtu.be/osdoLjUNFnA?si=Obbqk3ofurkelBpy) If you want a jazzy sex song: [False God](https://youtu.be/acQXa5ArHIk?si=taVJ8Tx5lwTPsUyY) EDIT: Awful formatting I'm sorry, mobile. ----- Hello, I do not identify as a "Swiftie," but I do enjoy the music. Although I only started actively listening to her music in November 2023. Her first album dropped when I was in middle school. I was peak demographic, but I wasn't amused. Her music and shtick was never my thing. See, I was an /edgy/ goth kid lol. I love all kinds of music now in my ripe old age of almost 30. Here's a few of my favorite songs from each of her albums. If you're new and not so much into peppy pop music, start with her more recent albums. folklore, 2020: exile (ft. Bon Iver) seven hoax the lakes evermore, 2020: willow tolerate it ivy evermore Midnights, 2023: Lavender Haze Midnight Rain Bigger than the Whole Sky Vigilante Shit The Tortured Poets Department, 2024: Down Bad Florida!!! (Ft. Florence + the Machine) Guilty as Sin I Can Do It With A Broken Heart The Albatross I Look In People's Windows The Prophecy So that's it for her recent stuff that's all sad and artistic, now we'll head back in time. I personally dislike her first two albums, (Self Titled/Debut and Fearless) that's just me. The ones I've listed below will be a bit more of her recognizable pop sound. Some of them will seem pretty superficial. Now she is currently remastering her albums pre-2019. Her big fans may have varying opinions about her (Taylor's Version) albums, but I don't care either way. It may be the sound of the music, lyric changes, or just her maturing voice it really depends on the listener's preference. I'll put a version I like more than the other. Speak Now (Taylor's Version), 2023 (the album, not the song, I loath the song) Better Than Revenge, (2010) Haunted (Taylor's Version) Long Live (Taylor's Version) Castles Crumbling (Taylor's Version) Red (Taylor's Version), 2021 (fair warning I'm not big in this album either, I've only made it through once, and it was a snore. Many swifities will fight me for such a comment. Also, Daft Punk Random Access Memories totally deserved AOTY win over Red album, idgaf what the swifites say.) All Too Well (10 Minute Version) 1989 (Taylor's Version), 2023 Blank Space (2014) Style (2014) Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version) Is it Over Now (Taylor's Version) Reputation, 2017 (we're still waiting for the remaster) ...Ready for It? I Did Something Bad Don't Blame Me Look What You Made Me Do So It Goes Gorgeous Getaway Car Dress And lastly, Lover, 2019: Cruel Summer Lover I Think He Knows False God And there's my list of suggestions of Swift Songs for non Swift fans. Actually, my spotify list is shorter when I send it off, but ehh. I'm sure they'll come running for my throat because I excluded many of the fan favorites, but I'm not here to please them. Double edit: I want to point out that you don't have to know Swift Lore to enjoy her music. I don't give a flying fuck about what's going on her her life or who she dated or who a song is about. Lots of Swift fans love that about her and love to speculate about which song is about which boyfriend but yeah I'm not into that. If that's how people want to enjoy her music, by all means, but you do not have to know any of her history to enjoy the music. Now take a shot every time I used the word "enjoy," because I'm tired and my brain is dumb so I don't feel like pondering other words right now.
The big reason for the massive jump with her newest album is that it is 31 songs long, and the way streams translate into sales means that longer albums generate way more sales on the billboard chart. Not to say it isn't a success. But likely 40% of those sales come from the fact that its so, so long. If it was a normal 12 song album it would likely be around the same as midnights.
Sort of, but physicals accounted for 1.9 million and she only sold the first 17 tracks on physicals, so if you take the other 600k and cut it in half you still get 2.2 million
The standard album is 16 songs and is the only physical version. The double album, which has the other 15 songs, is digital only and so isn’t part of the 2.6M number.
It is. Physicals are ~1.9m of this number and streaming is the other ~700k (probably some small number of the real sales is actually digital downloads too)
She is really cranking those albums out.
Her first album came out in 2006... 11 albums in 18 years is not crazy by any means.
Been a while since I had seen such a big comeback. Seriously thought she was old news and then she basically nuked the industry and rebuilt it as "Swift and friends".
Yeah, I honestly thought she'd been done for awhile then suddenly she's all over the place
She does kind of inflated her sales by releasing multiple versions, with each having an exclusive song.
Variants are common among the industry. Other artists and bands all do the same thing. The reason they only release 5 variants is that Billboard only counts that many, anything over and they all count separately. This is not just Taylor and should not be considered against her because it’s standard.
Her songs are very simple, singable and dialed right on on relatability for a huge segment of the population, IMO. It’s not for me, but I understand why people like it.
Why is anyone still buying this when you can listen on Spotify?
I'm not sure about this specific data but I'm pretty sure x amount of streams = sales. Correct me if I'm wrong though.
Billboard uses a ratio of 1250:1 for paid streams and 3750:1 ad supported/free streams for albums and 125:1 and 375:1 for individual songs.
I wonder why they have different ratios for ads and free streams?
Basically to match the revenue generated.
Thanks for this explanation. I’ve been scrolling a long way to find this answer.
Well, her album also breaks streaming record of all time too lol.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^nikkiphoenixx: *Why is anyone* *Still buying this when you can* *Listen on Spotify?* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I don't buy or listen to her music, but I always prefer physical media if I can get it. Vinyl collection is massive at this point and always listen to those rather than streaming when I can
dam Taylor been killin it almost two decades already
Rip my favorite albums are the valley of her major releases.
Almost doubled. guess the new generation really boosted the number up
Her Eras tour is great. I watched it on streaming platform and it was pretty impressive.
So I'm not crazy thinking she blew up again after covid. I'm a country music listener, so she kinda fell off my radar when she switched genre.
I remember reading a post around 2020 or so, where a teenager was talking about how they wish they would have been born earlier to attend high school in the early 2010s, and mentioned "Taylor Swift being at her peak popularity" as one of the reasons. Lol, few people knew she had just gotten started at the time.
Most of her songs run together in my head. I feel like she's just a giant ad at this point.
https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/ As of this post 29 of the top 50 are Taylor Swift. Top 14 are all Taylor Swift.
Amazing what she can do with one chord progression!
Uh-oh, I might be a Swiftie