Taylor Swift’s latest album, titled Midnights, was released last week and is already set to be her most successful release yet. A drastic shift in genres from her last two indie-folk albums folklore and evermore. However, “Midnights” reminds us of the more pop-focused Swift, with an experimental synth-pop and hints of R&B. All 13 tracks were produced by Swift’s longtime friend and collaborator, Jack Antonoff. Jack and Taylor first began working together on the singer’s fifth studio album, “1989.”
Swift’s “Reputation”, which was released five years ago, achieved the biggest ever U.S. sales week by traditional album sales with over 1.2 million copies sold. “Midnights” beat this record in just four days. Swift beating out Swift tends to be a trend. “Red (Taylor’s Version)” reached 90.8 million streams within its release day and broke the record for the most-streamed album in a day by a female artist. The previous record was by Swift’s “folklore”, which 78.7 million. And once again, “Midnights” almost doubled the record with 185 million streams on its release day.
Possibly the most impressive record broken by the album happened October 31. Taylor Swift became the first artist ever to claim the entire top 10 Billboard’s Hot 100 list in one week. This has yet to be done in the chart’s 64-year history. Swift tweeted, “10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES.” In addition, Rolling Stone called the album an “instant classic” in its 5-star review.
From an outside perspective, this just may seem like another successful album release for Swift. However, it is important to note we are approaching year 17 of Swift’s career. Yet, she is continuing to release new, exciting, record-breaking music, while not losing her genius songwriting and connection with her fans. Next, Swift hits the road for her highly anticipated “The Era’s Tour”, which has the potential to break even more records.