The Her Campus National Editors write about products we love and think you’ll love too. Her Campus has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase. All products are in stock and all prices are accurate as of publication.
Taylor Swift. Fearless. Speak Now. Red. 1989. Reputation. Lover. Folklore. Evermore. Midnights. The Tortured Poets Department. The Life of a Showgirl.Â
If you didn’t know who I was talking about from the first three letters, I sure hope you got there by the end.Â
Taylor Swift is arguably the most famous music artist today, with 12 original albums (not including the Taylor’s Version re-records), 14 Grammy Awards, four Album of the Year awards, and many other accolades. Your eyes would glaze over if I listed them all, and I’d like to avoid that.
And yet, Swift still seems to be a polarizing subject in a lot of communities. Everyone seems to have an opinion about her, and while she has a strong “Swiftie” fanbase, she also has a popularity approval rating of just 53%, according to YouGov, a research data and analytics group.
So why do people dislike her? What makes Taylor Swift such a hot topic? I took the liberty of scouring the internet (do not recommend) for tangible reasons to dislike the artist. Here’s what I learned.
Money was a big issue. And in this economy, when is it not? A common pain point was the sheer volume of variants, remixes, and other products that Swift produces. One Reddit user said, “all her music seems to be super calculated to make her the most money possible.”
Swift released 29 variants of her most recent album in 2023, The Life of a Showgirl. However, a 2024 Luminate Insights report shows the trend of physical variants to be increasing among the Billboard Top 10 Artists. The average number of variants rose from 3.3 per week in 2019 to 8.9 per week in 2023.
Another complaint was her billionaire status, achieved in 2023. Currently, Forbes reports her net worth at $2 billion, standing at No. 2,045 in the world today. A common phrase is “there are no ethical billionaires,” a political and philosophical critique that it is morally impossible to individually accumulate a billion dollars without some form of systemic exploitation.Â
While Swift exists in a world of capitalism (as evidenced by the number of products she sells), she has also been known to be a fair employer. Over the course of the Eras Tour, it was reported that she gave out $197 million in bonuses to everyone working on the tour. Most of her money comes from her music, Forbes said. About $800 million comes from royalties and touring, with $600 million from her ongoing music catalog.Â
In May 2025, Swift announced that she had re-acquired the rights to her first six albums, which was an ongoing struggle that you can read more about. Swift is also a notable donor to many charities, beginning in 2011 witha $70,000 donation to her hometown library. Before her wedding, she and now-husband Travis Kelce donated $26 million to various charities. She has also donated to fans, disaster relief funds, and food banks along the Eras Tour path.
It’s still more money than I might see in a lifetime, but without the value of her catalog, Swift’s net worth is about $600 million. That’s not anywhere near the $865 billion of Elon Musk, the $365 billion of Jeff Bezos, or even the measly No. 10 net worth of Warren Buffett, $165 billion. I think we have bigger issues.Â
One of the biggest anti-Swift arguments I’ve seen is about the private jet. In a 2022 report from CelebJets, a celebrity flight-tracker, Swift was the top celebrity CO2e polluter, at around 8,293 tonnes (1,185 times more than the average person). A spokesperson from Swift’s team said that “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”Â
Carbon emissions are a big deal, especially given our world’s current climate crisis and the planet’s declining health. However, I don’t think it is fair to assign all the blame to Swift. Other top celebrities on the list were Drake, Kylie Jenner, Travis Scott, and Jay-Z. Furthermore, celebrities rarely fly commercial. Of course, it would be a huge weight off our atmosphere if everyone flew commercial, but some people don’t have that option, considering their privacy, security risks, and scheduling. In 2025, Swift didn’t even make the top 10 of the list. Among the top polluters were Donald Trump (No. 1), Travis Scott (No. 2), and Kim Kardashian (No. 5).Â
Other complaints include general distaste for her music (music taste is subjective), her music being generic or mainstream (kind of hard to be niche when you’re the most-streamed artist in Spotify history), or other preconceived notions that might just stem from internalized misogyny.Â
Any relationship the general population has with a celebrity is parasocial at best — Let’s remember that as we advance further into this digital age.
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, watch us on TikTok, and read our latest Tweets!