TAYLOR’S WORLD: A LOOK AT SOME (BIG) GLOBAL NUMBERS

As the projections for Taylor Swift’s new set, THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, go through the roof (the current consensus is 2.3m+ U.S. in its opening frame), we thought it might be illuminating to look through some global stats on her prior releases.

One caveat as we do so: The Republic megastar is simply bigger than she’s ever been. The numbers you’re about to see are all from releases that dropped before (or well before) the Eras Tour, the Eras Tour movie or Tay’s conquest of the NFL (with a slight assist from Travis Kelce) and its associated pop-cultural media onslaught.

Of course, the above developments—supercharged by Tay’s marketing brilliance—have also kept her catalog moving worldwide.

First off, our weary abacus tells us that Tay’s releases—including all “Taylor’s Version” re-recordings—are collectively north of 200m in global activity RTD.

The original 1989—her 2014 pop breakthrough—leads the pack with just under 40m (while 2023’s Taylor’s Version has amassed about 9m), while Lover, Fearless, Red and reputation have all done around 20m, and the TV reissues of Red and Fearless have racked up just south of 9m and north of 7m, respectively.

2022’s Midnights, which has done 17m+ worldwide, is probably the most relevant release for comparison as we await the bow of TORTURED POETS, seeing as it’s Tay’s most recent album of entirely new material.

We anticipate re-imaginings of reputation and Tay’s eponymous debut set—along with retail and merch offerings that will doubtless beggar the imagination—in the near-ish future.

To summarize: It’s Taylor’s world; we just live in it.