SWIFT DOES IT AGAIN

At midnight, Taylor Swift’s 10th studio album, Midnights (Republic), hit DSPs. But unlike most acts moving units these days, Swift has prioritized the physical component of the release, setting up the project so the album will simultaneously hit retailers, notably Target, which will carry an exclusive CD containing three bonus tracks. And if you’re a superfan—which describes the majority of Swift's fan base—there’s also a suite of D2C options on her website enabling you to purchase special-edition vinyl and CD versions.

Swift also has a clock for sale that can hold each special-edition color of Midnights, in vinyl or CD, incentivizing fans to buy four different versions to complete their clocks.

When all is said and done, Swift’s first-week number will be massive, and the pure-sales total will be a huge chunk of the overall figure. But the album will also be streamed like crazy. Swift’s strategy is an all-encompassing attack, engaging, daring and trusting her fans to consume her project in multiple versions, formats and configurations. She’s betting they’ll do just that.

What Swift does better than any other artist is roll up her sleeves and sell her art. For the Midnights rollout, the shrewd superstar used TikTok for a clever pre-release lottery series. She doesn’t ignore traditional media either, opting to hit Fallon and Graham Norton next week, and she has a major spot airing on tonight's Thursday Night Football telecast on Amazon Prime Video. Swift also has two music videos—likely mini-films—ready to drop during release week.

From her surprise announcement at the VMAs to delivering the album with enough lead time to secure vinyl day-and-date, Tay has her shit together. She broke the record for vinyl-sales weeks in 2020 (with evermore) and 2021 (Red [Taylor’s Version]). The industry and her army of fans can’t wait to find out how Midnights, her first original LP in two years, will fare.