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Taylor Swift is indisputably the biggest pop star in the world right now. So why is she being called “greedy”, “fame hungry” and “stats obsessed” for topping the charts?
Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, has smashed records all around the world since its release in late April. On Spotify, it became the most streamed album in a single day, and then the most streamed album in a single week (cracking more than 1 billion streams).
Taylor Swift is the biggest pop star in the world. Why is she copping so much hate for dominating the charts?Credit: AP
In Australia, Swift became the first artist to hold every spot on the top 10 of the ARIA singles chart. In the US and Britain, the album is still holding strong in the top spot.
But as she celebrated her sixth consecutive posting at UK No.1 last week (her longest reign in the country to date), Swift copped a lot of hate for “blocking out” other artists – and some of her own fans are even starting to turn on her.
It has a lot to do with timing.
The thing is, Charli XCX’s critically acclaimed new album, Brat, was well on its way last week to snagging the top spot from TTPD on the UK’s Official Charts, battling it out with Bon Jovi’s Forever, before Swift released new reissues of her album with live bonus tracks and “first draft phone memos”, that helped ensure TTPD held its ground. The new content was exclusively available in Britain and only for a limited time, directing fans to make quick sales.
While this was announced as a celebration of Swift’s Eras tour, which had hit the UK a week earlier, many saw it as a cynical move to rack up stats before the end of the charting week.
Of course, Swift’s streaming stats undoubtedly contributed to her chart success too, as more people listened to the album in preparation for attending her shows. Spotify UK reported it was the most streamed album in the region that week (Brat came in at No.3) and two other Swift albums also featured in the top 10.
Still, the optics of the last-minute drop led to an onslaught of criticism, and many sceptics saw it as part of a larger pattern: it was just last month that Billie Eilish fans had a similar complaint.
Swift released a number of new digital download and CD variants in the week ending May 23, when Billie Eilish’s new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, dropped in the US.
Despite it being the most commercially successful release of Eilish’s career to date, earning 339,000 equivalent album units in that week, the young pop star was ultimately outdone on the Billboard album chart. TTPD increased its units by 45 per cent compared with the previous week and pipped Hit Me Hard and Soft at the post.
Bad blood? Fans of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish have been suspecting a feud.Credit: Getty Images for FIJI Water
Many fans interpreted that as a deliberate move against Eilish, especially as she had made comments just a few months before criticising artists (though not referring to Swift directly) who release endless versions of the one album.
“It’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f—king 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more,” she told Billboard. “It’s so wasteful, and it’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favourite artists doing that sh-t.”
She later clarified on social media that she wasn’t singling anyone out: “These are industry-wide systemic issues and when it comes to variants, so many artists release them, including ME!”
Releasing multiple versions of the same album, whether that be with different artwork or vinyl colour, and/or additional bonus material is nothing new. The Rolling Stones released at least 43 vinyl versions of Hackney Diamonds last year and there was no drama about them “chart blocking” anyone (although notably those variants didn’t come with new tracks or bonus phone memos).
In fact, every artist mentioned in this story has done it while vying for their own No.1 spot. Just a couple of days after the release of Brat – and before Swift teased any new material to British audiences – Charli XCX dropped an expanded version of her album, Brat and It’s The Same But There’s Three More Songs So It’s Not (it’s what it says on the tin).
But no one has perfected the art quite like Taylor.
Swift is known for her frequent surprise drops of new work and endless collectible items for fans. When Midnights dropped, a local Swiftie told this masthead she had ordered 15 vinyl versions in one week; four of which featured covers that would fit together to form a clock face on her wall.
“[Swift] makes it very easy to get sucked in, and you want everything,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine going out and buying another album eight or 10 times for any other artists.”
Camila Cabello, Taylor Swift, and Charli XCX onstage before opening night of Swift’s 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour in May 2018 in Arizona.Credit: Getty Images for TAS
Is that a bad thing? Cultivating an intense fandom and delivering content they’re clamouring for seems like pop music 101. And expecting one of the most commercially successful musicians in the world to stop hustling to make room for other artists is unrealistic.
The real question is whether these controversies affect how Swift’s fans see her as an artist in an increasingly monopolised, corporatised music landscape; and if their hunger for endless content can continue. Swift, a freshly minted billionaire, has been inescapable recently, delivering Midnights, the global Eras tour and its accompanying movie, and the mammoth TTPD in less than two years.
Notably, when her new UK offerings were announced on X last week, the pushback didn’t just come from fans of Charli XCX. “I love you Taylor, but this is just greedy,” wrote one user. Another, a fan account called @allswifted, simply said: “im tired”.
Taylor Swift’s publicity team and record label both declined to provide comment about the controversy, the backlash she’s facing or Swift’s general release strategy.
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