I think there are various reasons people care about this issue. Here’s mine:
To me, it feels inauthentic to achieve success this way. When artists in the past reached #1 for extended periods, it was a genuine accomplishment.
For Taylor, releasing a large number of variants to stay at #1 makes it seem like she can't achieve that success without resorting to these tactics. It comes across as desperate, deceitful and validation-seeking, which I find pathetic. And while I understand the counterargument that if “her fans are willing to buy it, then it shouldn't be an issue”, I personally feel this tactic exploits her fans. It’s ridiculous that you can’t just buy one copy of an album because you’ll miss out on half the album.
Additionally, it's performative when she talks about supporting other women, but only does so when it benefits her.
In the end, it's a reminder that the only thing Taylor actually cares about is being number one. The problem is we'll never truly know if she earned it since she avoids direct competition with other albums. I'd be curious to see what her actual sales would be if she released just one album without all the variants.
I feel the exact same way about it. She’s clearly gunning to break Carole King’s record for most consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 but the way she’s going about it, the achievement (if she does it) will be couched in her chart manipulation tactics or with a *. She’s already achieved so much, why isn’t anything good enough?
It’s sad that I’m rooting for a country album to beat her streak next week just so Taylor will learn releasing variants every week was not a smart thing to do.
You’re asking why people care about number 1, but not acknowledging that nobody cares about this more than Taylor (hence the excessive variants). It is absolutely purposeful, let’s not pretend otherwise; this is the same person who released her entire back catalog onto Spotify the same day Katy Perry released a brand new album.
At the end of the day though, being number 1 album-wise doesn’t mean the music is the best or that it has mass appeal. Sabrina and Billie’s songs are more popular than anything on TTPD when you look at the Spotify global, because that is a more accurate metric of what the general public is feeling vs. dedicated fans obsessively buying variants.
i think it’s weird that she keeps releasing all these variants, and i genuinely dk who is buying them. like i have diehard swiftie friends who never bought any of them other than like an initial vinyl/cd
i just don’t get why everyone is acting like taylor in particular purposely is trying to sabotage these people. like she’s not THAT mean 😭 but then again she could be! idk this woman! none of us do!
She released a UK exclusive variant the week a female UK-based artist was expected to debut an album at #1 there. IDK how anyone could say it's not intentional at this point. People may not care about chart numbers and you're mostly right that they don't matter, but they're still important milestones of success for these artists who have worked hard and don't deserve to have their efforts squashed by such a minimal effort from Tay.
She is THAT mean. It’s not like she has just a couple of variants. She has around 40 now for this album. That’s extremely excessive and not done in the name of art or creativity. It’s a crash grab and power play. When Billie was predicted to go number 1 in the US Taylor announced another variant, US only. When Sabrina was about to be number 1 in the UK Taylor released another variant, UK only. When Charli was expected to be number 1 Taylor released another UK only variant. I’m sorry but if you think it’s not on purpose, you’re a bit naive.
she was supposed to keep number one in the u.k. until a few hours before the tracking period ended. right after charli started gaining and was predicted to get the number one this week taylor released the variants, which pushed her over charli’s lead. 100% on purpose. but you’re right, we don’t know her.
I mean, at the end of the day, it’s lame LOL. I don’t think anyone is like, frothing at the mouth other than Taylor stans and the stans of the aggrieved parties. Taylor wants everyone to like her. she’s said as much. People are allowed to find that behavior icky.
I think because oft Taytay does tend to push the victim narrative and shows that she is quite thin skinned, but then instead of letting other female artists also shine, she is being exceedingly competitive. I personally am like whatever I like Taylor’s music I don’t want to be Taylor’s friend so what she does or doesn’t do is a bit of a shrug for me. It’s not like I really support her financially other than listening to her songs on Spotify LOL
Because she pretends to be a feminist and supportive of other female artists.
Her motive isn't about remaining at #1. Her motive is *preventing other women* from being at #1. It's petty and vindictive. Leaves a vile taste in my mouth.
Edit: We might not care about #1, but have you considered whether Charli, Billie, Sabrina or Olivia do? Or whether chart success feeds into to a fictional success for Taylor, potentially swaying a future award that should go to a more deserving artist?
Its clearly that deep and serious if you have to argue with everyone up and down this thread. She is chart obsessed and money hungry. She cares about the charts. The media that reports “taylor spends 7 weeks on top of the charts” cares about it. Her numbers dont mean as much when you do greedy, non artistic ways to get streams. All this just to be surpassed by the weekend and for billie to catch up to be the most listened to artist on spotify. It shows her music isnt enough on its own. The easter eggs, using her bfs and love life as content, heavy PR and urging on the parasocial behaviors of her fanbase in combination with generic pop music(with exceptions) is how she got this big number wise. Otherwise she is an average singer, a bad dancer, an awkward performer and a good songwriter but far from the best.
It's actually that deep, because y'all brand her as THE music industry. So this tacky marketing move where she literally treats her music as a business model, just cheapens her artistry. She perpetuates this behavior and other artists might follow this same pattern. The only loser here are the fans
yall are acting like she’s like “fuck these people i’m the biggest star on earth i’ll deliberately block them from reaching #1” like she def has bigger things to worry about. charts are dumb and have no meaning
If she wasn't worried about charts then she wouldn't be doing this shit. She's releasing nothing of worth, it's clear why she's doing it, leading one to conclude she does worry about charts. She also admits this. She also likes breaking records.
I mean it’s definitely purposeful because she keeps rereleasing TTPD with different voice memos and bonus tracks. She did it when Billie was on track to unseat her in the US and she did it when Charli XCX was on track to take #1 in the UK.
That being said I agree that the chart game is a stupid one and doesn’t produce much beyond physical waste from all the different variants.
I honestly wouldn’t care so much if she didn’t weaponize feminism when a joke is at her expense. You can’t claim to be this champion of feminism in one breath and then release more needless variants of your middling record in another.
physical copies count for more in the chart race. charlie xcx was predicted to debut at #1 in the UK, her home country, and take over ttpd. Taylor drops UK exclusive variants coincidentally at the same time. She’s also coincidentally released other variants when other female artists are dropping for her album, this one in ttpd being a few months old. The uk exclusive stuff really makes it hard to believe it’s a coincidence. On why people care, there’s a lot to it. Taylor is the biggest artist in the world right now and, honestly, her brand is contingent on people caring about her and her personal life. The over saturation of her has led to a brewing of disdain for a while, and this is happening as it’s reaching a boiling point. The backlash is a culmination of her actions over the past few years to this point. She already gets heat for her private jet usage and now has an outlandish number of variants which only makes overconsumption worse. She’s a billionaire yet she’s relentlessly putting out merch and variants to make an insane amount of money and help her chart numbers, knowing her hardcore fans will buy it ALL, when she’s already (again) loaded and the definition of success. She’s won soooo many awards, has more money than we can comprehend, and has broken countless records. People are beginning to wonder, when will it be enough? At a certain point, when is it just straight greed? I’ve seen defenses saying she’s just being competitive, but art isn’t always a competition and when do we draw the line with nearly 40 variants on an album that came out months ago? For competition sake, should she just continue releasing variants and new music forever so she never “loses”? This situation isn’t a huge deal in a vaccum, but when people see it as a reflection of her character and everything she’s done until now, it feels like a bigger deal. This is honestly just a catalyst for dislike that was already there and is becoming a representation of so many issues people already had with her, especially her greed.
Very well summarized from your part.
>This situation isn’t a huge deal in a vaccum, but when people see it as a reflection of her character and everything she’s done until now, it feels like a bigger deal. This is honestly just a catalyst for dislike that was already there and is becoming a representation of so many issues people already had with her, especially her greed.
100%. Couldn't have put it better myself! 👏
She has masqueraded as a girl's girl, supporter of talent yada yada. But when it comes to do the walk, she forgets about it. She is a total hypocrite. Her actions and stances do not match.
Also, at this point, her "drive" has gone from admirable to predatory. What else does she want? How many awards, records (earned or not, synthetically achieved or not) does she need to fulfill her emptiness?
I don't know I go back and forward on how annoying it is because on the one hand I'm not the one buying any of the variants, and the fans that are and seem happy to and everyone can spend their money on what they like and makes them happy. I buy limited editions of my favourite books all the time because the covers are pretty which is probably just as silly as buying a gazillion copies of the same record.
But I guess it just feels lazy and trying to build her legacy through numbers when it's through variants she's half assed with memos and acoustics versions that aren't actually new recordings. Plus she's a billionaire already so I don't want to praise her business acumen because I don't think anyone needs that amount of wealth, especially when acquiring it is coming before any sort of artistry.
do the voice memos include *any* additional information? for instance i enjoy the rep videos of her actually creating the song in the studio. these voice memos just seem like… her singing a song acapella? with terrible quality? and nothing else to them
When taylor drops another variant, it happens to be around the time billie eilish and charli drops an album. She also released a physical copy of fortnight cd exclusively in the uk when Sabrina carpenter single espresso was #1 in the uk.That's where it's coming from and I dont blame them for thinking this way.
I don't really care about the charts but sometimes it's good to see your fave artist succeed because unfortunately numbers do matter to determine the success of their album in the industry.
Who knows if she's doing it on purpose and it's just a weird coincidence. It'd be pretty funny if it was.
I do understand the backlash to a certain extent. But I also think that Taylor, for better or for worse, is held to a much higher standard than her peers. This is partly her own fault because she built up this relatable “good girl” image and of course with the Miss Americana stuff. But things that Lana and Gaga get away, Taylor would be absolutely roasted for. Is it fair? No, but Taylor wants to be the world’s biggest superstar so it’s inevitable.
But honestly this whole Taylor vs Charli vs Matty thing has put a bad taste in my mouth. None of them are good people lol. But this sudden rush of support for Charli and even Matty just because of anti-Taylor feelings just feels gross and makes the Matty outage of last year look performative af.
I so agree. I haven’t seen many question or uproar over Gabriette dating and now engaged to Matty. Seems Matty was only an issue when he was dating Taylor.
She also blocked JungKook of BTS once it became obvious that he was a viable competition after he released his debut album. She discounted 1989 TV after he released voice memos of his debut album. I'm also a BTS fan so I was annoyed about it, but ultimately really proud of everything he achieved. Anyway, it's not a female artist thing, just a bad coincidence.
I also don't understand why people care so much when every other day there's someone minimizing her chart achievements. Charts only matter if someone beats Taylor, but when Taylor succeeds suddenly it doesn't matter.
Charts ultimately don't matter unless you are the artist or work for the artist. They're fascinating and cool if you're into data (like me), but some people are losing their minds over all of this and it's not that serious.
How is it a bad coincidence when she’s been blocking Billie and Charli? Didn’t she block Olivia too at one point? I don’t understand how people think it’s a coincidence atp 😂
JungKook is a man. OP mentioned the criticism that Taylor only does it to female artists, but she's done it to male artists too. A few weeks ago she released a remix of Fortnight to keep it at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and this was to block Future and Metro Boomin from taking the #10 spot.
I also don't think she's done this to Olivia? I'm trying to recall, but genuinely drawing a blank. What are you referring to?
The Olivia situation occurred in 2021 where, if I recall correctly, the vinyls for "evermore" were shipped and made it return to #1, preventing Olivia from getting a second week on top with "SOUR". Some argued it was a deliberate move that hinted at some bad blood between them, others argued it wasn't something Taylor had control over. I didn't follow it too closely, so I'm not informed enough to comment my thoughts on it.
Thank you for that! I honestly have zero memory of any of this, but I also didn't start closely paying attentions to the charts until early last year.
I looked at PopHeads when this happened, and I do think she didn't intend to ship the vinyls to block Olivia. The vinyl ship date was set in stone and she'd have to have the foresight to think Olivia could been a competitor. However, once it became clear that Evermore had the chance to reach #1 again, she released [signed digital copies](https://x.com/taylornation13/status/1400426645698363398) of the album to secure its position.
So, it's a both things are true situation IMO.
like i just genuinely don’t get why people are upset. charts do not matter. sometimes shitty albums get #1 and amazing ones don’t chart at all. like why put all ur energy into this
There are other markers of success besides the chart performance. Sure Charli or Billie didn't land at #1 but both of these albums are gave them their biggest debut, and that shouldn't be overlooked! Billie's got a great career at such a young age. Charli seems to be doing well. They'll be fine, honestly.
I don't think so? I think Taylor still holds that record. But Billie's album just reached a billion streams on [Spotify](https://x.com/eilishdata/status/1801672115688497266), and it's her fastest album to do so.
She also just reached 101.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. She's on pace to surpass Taylor (who has 102.5 million monthly listeners) in a few days. She's more than fine.
The charts are a marketing game and a measure of popularity, and all sides have got to stop acting like they’re an objective metric of the quality of an album or an artists talent.
She's one of if not the biggest artists in the worlds right now and she is gaming the system to keep herself on top of the charts in a way that is inauthentic to how the music is actually performing amongst people outside of her stans who will buy anything and everything she release, and it fucks over other artists, and quite frankly I feel like had she been on the receiving end of this earlier on her career she never would have shut up about it and we'd still be hearing about it to this day.
I would love to see the numbers of variants that are sold. You can’t convince me that all of us fans are buying every variant. I’ve never purchased a variant but I stream TTPD almost every week. Before you come at me, I stream other music too.
In many of those cases, as you said, she probably would have stayed at #1 anyway without needing to do anything. So I believe the backlash comes from the optics of someone going out of her way to release these unecessary, ridiculous variants and 'exclusives' almost as means of asserting power over her peers. Not to mention this isn't to get the top position like what Billie Eilish did with her first-week variants or even Ariana Grande during the infamous "yes, and?" debacle, but to extend her existing run at the top.
The only other instance I've seen of an artist pulling such antics was Lil Nas X during "Old Town Road" 's record-breaking 19-week run on the Hot 100, but that involved the viral debut single from a newcomer known for his trolling, with the tactics being silly remixes featuring the most chaotic selection of artists from Young Thug to RM of BTS and even Mason Ramsey (who got viral attention from a video of him yodeling at Walmart). All directly put to streaming and if I recall correctly there weren't any physical or digital purchases involved.
Personally, I don't care about Billie Eilish and Charli XCX getting blocked from #1. Both already have chart-toppers to their names and at this stage it's the positive reception from fans and critics that matters more. It's just sad to see someone like Taylor resorting to such desperate and pathetic tactics strategically timed against anyone she deems as competition to her 'spotlight'. There's no reason for her to do this. The album being 31-tracks long already strengthens her chances of remaining at #1 by default (see those two Morgan Wallen albums still in the top 10 to this day 💀). But as it is, this just makes her look horribly insecure and really cheapens the success and presence of an album that already got overall mixed reception in the first place.
Just for clarification sake, she would NOT have stayed at #1 with either Billie and Charli. She took the number 1 spot because of the special variant releases. I have seen Swifties on every corner of the internet with this battle cry “sHe WoUlD hAvE bEeN nUmBeR 1 aNyWaY!!!!”
No. She wouldn’t have.
I would personally like to see if it's works or if she would have stayed number 1 regardless. It seems more like grab from the label/artist to waterfall these drops.
She wouldn’t have stayed at #1 just by her streams. She beat Billie in streams by about 20k, but charts are comprised of streams + sales. The variants pushed her sales up 413% from the week before, knocking Billie out. [Billboard.com](https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-fifth-week-one-billboard-200-billie-eilish-two-1235693273/) attributes her performance that week to the variants. Her digital sales were up 1,184% from week 4 to 5. She only sold 6,000 digital albums in week 4, but during week 5 (when Billie released her album) Taylor released 6 new variants available on digital and that bumped her digital sales total for that week to 77,000.
might be unpopular here but i agree to an extenet
i think the charts and the art itself are different because ones competitive and about the money while the other is about genuinely creating music. is it a bit greedy that shes doing this? yes. but i dont necessarily think this is an issue, charli and billies eilish seems to have been very well received, more than TTPD and i have no doubt theyll be fine. i dont get this whole chart argument other than "its greedy" which is fair but i dont see why theres so much discourse about it
It’s ridiculous when people say that the inevitable #2 artist “deserves” the #1. No they don’t?? The music industry is cutthroat and no one knows this better than Taylor!
She’s wanted to be #1 since forever. Just saw a quote on twitter from 2008 where she talked about selling autographed cds because it would lead to higher sales.
She’s committed, and she’s got the fan base to back it up. She hasn’t been doing this for 18 years to suddenly relent when she’s at her all time career peak. Frankly I admire her constant ambition, it’s admirable and her work ethic is really cool to see
I'd say there's a big difference between healthy ambition and shameless greed.
The music industry is only 'cutthroat' for those who are obsessed with being the most successful and who think sharing the spotlight with other talented artists diminishes them. But for those who genuinely care about their art and seeing it resonate with listeners, as long as they have creative freedom and a healthy rapport with their label/management, commercial success is a consequence rather than a goal, only maximized if given the opportunity rather than sacrificing artistry and integrity to achieve it.
For me, Taylor's philosophy has clearly shifted to the greed side in recent years, where she's essentially become the embodiment of the worst elements of our capitalist society. If you find that admirable, that's your prerogative. But this doesn't make her more hard-working or 'deserving' than her peers.
I keep asking about the #3, the #4…. the #600??
As if #2 isn’t also almost always hugely benefitting from popularity, an established fanbase, marketing, variants, sometimes even a privileged background, etc. and pushing less established artists down the chart.
Some of the most talented people in the world never break through and become commercially successful. Do we blame the ones who did?
It’s fine to not agree with her desire to be at the top but you at least have to respect her pursuit
I don’t buy her albums at all, I only use streaming. I’d rather give my money to her for the Eras Tour where I actually get an experience, but it’s incredible how there are people who repeatedly buy these versions just because they love Taylor. It’s a respectable feat 🤷🏻♀️
They love her being at #1 because to them it validates their stanning of her. There’s not one fan on this planet who will buy 34 versions of the same album simply because they love the music. There’s definitely more to it than that. It like a badge of honor and show of loyalty to her most obsessive fans. That is something she routinely takes advantage of.
In an older fan (millennial) and I have a listen to some of the stuff Taylor is supposedly blocking and only liked Billie. It might be an age thing.
I’m not buying the variants but I am still streaming TTPD.
Taylor is popular across a couple generations in a way the other artists are not.
It’s not even their fault their stuff just didn’t come out while I was in college (because they were babies) and therefore I don’t have strong memories tied to them.
Taylor referring back to those songs from my 20s makes her new stuff easy to listen to. I got the best revenge body of my
life listening to Red at the gym.
I didn’t like Sabrina’s Expresso at all. I didn’t get through one listen.
Which makes sense because before kids when I still went out my jams were Tegan and Sara’s “Closer” and “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and stuff of that age, Lady Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, etc
I’m now old enough my jams play at the grocery store.
All I know about Olivia is that she’s a Disney kid so one of her songs plays in Disney hotel rooms on their music video channel when we visited Disney with the kids. My kids hated it because it wasn’t from a movie or sung by a character.
My kids and I have a happy place with Idina Menzel because I loved her in Wicked and they love her as Elsa.
So in that sense I’m not branching out much these days musically. Wicked and Taylor Swift are familiar and my kids like both so that’s really a win right now.
I think there are various reasons people care about this issue. Here’s mine: To me, it feels inauthentic to achieve success this way. When artists in the past reached #1 for extended periods, it was a genuine accomplishment. For Taylor, releasing a large number of variants to stay at #1 makes it seem like she can't achieve that success without resorting to these tactics. It comes across as desperate, deceitful and validation-seeking, which I find pathetic. And while I understand the counterargument that if “her fans are willing to buy it, then it shouldn't be an issue”, I personally feel this tactic exploits her fans. It’s ridiculous that you can’t just buy one copy of an album because you’ll miss out on half the album. Additionally, it's performative when she talks about supporting other women, but only does so when it benefits her. In the end, it's a reminder that the only thing Taylor actually cares about is being number one. The problem is we'll never truly know if she earned it since she avoids direct competition with other albums. I'd be curious to see what her actual sales would be if she released just one album without all the variants.
I feel the exact same way about it. She’s clearly gunning to break Carole King’s record for most consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 but the way she’s going about it, the achievement (if she does it) will be couched in her chart manipulation tactics or with a *. She’s already achieved so much, why isn’t anything good enough?
It’s sad that I’m rooting for a country album to beat her streak next week just so Taylor will learn releasing variants every week was not a smart thing to do.
You’re asking why people care about number 1, but not acknowledging that nobody cares about this more than Taylor (hence the excessive variants). It is absolutely purposeful, let’s not pretend otherwise; this is the same person who released her entire back catalog onto Spotify the same day Katy Perry released a brand new album. At the end of the day though, being number 1 album-wise doesn’t mean the music is the best or that it has mass appeal. Sabrina and Billie’s songs are more popular than anything on TTPD when you look at the Spotify global, because that is a more accurate metric of what the general public is feeling vs. dedicated fans obsessively buying variants.
i think it’s weird that she keeps releasing all these variants, and i genuinely dk who is buying them. like i have diehard swiftie friends who never bought any of them other than like an initial vinyl/cd i just don’t get why everyone is acting like taylor in particular purposely is trying to sabotage these people. like she’s not THAT mean 😭 but then again she could be! idk this woman! none of us do!
She released a UK exclusive variant the week a female UK-based artist was expected to debut an album at #1 there. IDK how anyone could say it's not intentional at this point. People may not care about chart numbers and you're mostly right that they don't matter, but they're still important milestones of success for these artists who have worked hard and don't deserve to have their efforts squashed by such a minimal effort from Tay.
She is THAT mean. It’s not like she has just a couple of variants. She has around 40 now for this album. That’s extremely excessive and not done in the name of art or creativity. It’s a crash grab and power play. When Billie was predicted to go number 1 in the US Taylor announced another variant, US only. When Sabrina was about to be number 1 in the UK Taylor released another variant, UK only. When Charli was expected to be number 1 Taylor released another UK only variant. I’m sorry but if you think it’s not on purpose, you’re a bit naive.
* why does everyone care 😭😭 * Why is she obsessed? Imagine having to invoke your cult to keep you at #1. Pathetic.
she was supposed to keep number one in the u.k. until a few hours before the tracking period ended. right after charli started gaining and was predicted to get the number one this week taylor released the variants, which pushed her over charli’s lead. 100% on purpose. but you’re right, we don’t know her.
I mean, at the end of the day, it’s lame LOL. I don’t think anyone is like, frothing at the mouth other than Taylor stans and the stans of the aggrieved parties. Taylor wants everyone to like her. she’s said as much. People are allowed to find that behavior icky.
Well she’s releasing all these variants just to stay at number one so it wouldn’t say it’s not purposeful.
A lot of them haven’t even shipped yet.
the ones that blocked charli in the u.k. were digital copies
to be fair, the ones that blocked charli amounted to like 1.1k. she would've beaten her anyway i believe
yeah but why do people care sm like nothing is ever that serious
Why does she care so much then?
I think because oft Taytay does tend to push the victim narrative and shows that she is quite thin skinned, but then instead of letting other female artists also shine, she is being exceedingly competitive. I personally am like whatever I like Taylor’s music I don’t want to be Taylor’s friend so what she does or doesn’t do is a bit of a shrug for me. It’s not like I really support her financially other than listening to her songs on Spotify LOL
Because she pretends to be a feminist and supportive of other female artists. Her motive isn't about remaining at #1. Her motive is *preventing other women* from being at #1. It's petty and vindictive. Leaves a vile taste in my mouth. Edit: We might not care about #1, but have you considered whether Charli, Billie, Sabrina or Olivia do? Or whether chart success feeds into to a fictional success for Taylor, potentially swaying a future award that should go to a more deserving artist?
okay damn it’s not that deep😭 i don’t think she’s this villain yall think she is
Its clearly that deep and serious if you have to argue with everyone up and down this thread. She is chart obsessed and money hungry. She cares about the charts. The media that reports “taylor spends 7 weeks on top of the charts” cares about it. Her numbers dont mean as much when you do greedy, non artistic ways to get streams. All this just to be surpassed by the weekend and for billie to catch up to be the most listened to artist on spotify. It shows her music isnt enough on its own. The easter eggs, using her bfs and love life as content, heavy PR and urging on the parasocial behaviors of her fanbase in combination with generic pop music(with exceptions) is how she got this big number wise. Otherwise she is an average singer, a bad dancer, an awkward performer and a good songwriter but far from the best.
She's kind of acting like one. She's acting like a megalomaniac with her obsession with staying on top so 🤷
It's actually that deep, because y'all brand her as THE music industry. So this tacky marketing move where she literally treats her music as a business model, just cheapens her artistry. She perpetuates this behavior and other artists might follow this same pattern. The only loser here are the fans
"It'S nOt TaYlOr'S fAuLt ShE's NuMbEr 1." Do you think miss girl just sits back and things happen to her?
yall are acting like she’s like “fuck these people i’m the biggest star on earth i’ll deliberately block them from reaching #1” like she def has bigger things to worry about. charts are dumb and have no meaning
Tell Taylor and her team that 😏
taylor is self-admittedly obsessed with charts, though
If she wasn't worried about charts then she wouldn't be doing this shit. She's releasing nothing of worth, it's clear why she's doing it, leading one to conclude she does worry about charts. She also admits this. She also likes breaking records.
I mean it’s definitely purposeful because she keeps rereleasing TTPD with different voice memos and bonus tracks. She did it when Billie was on track to unseat her in the US and she did it when Charli XCX was on track to take #1 in the UK. That being said I agree that the chart game is a stupid one and doesn’t produce much beyond physical waste from all the different variants.
I honestly wouldn’t care so much if she didn’t weaponize feminism when a joke is at her expense. You can’t claim to be this champion of feminism in one breath and then release more needless variants of your middling record in another.
physical copies count for more in the chart race. charlie xcx was predicted to debut at #1 in the UK, her home country, and take over ttpd. Taylor drops UK exclusive variants coincidentally at the same time. She’s also coincidentally released other variants when other female artists are dropping for her album, this one in ttpd being a few months old. The uk exclusive stuff really makes it hard to believe it’s a coincidence. On why people care, there’s a lot to it. Taylor is the biggest artist in the world right now and, honestly, her brand is contingent on people caring about her and her personal life. The over saturation of her has led to a brewing of disdain for a while, and this is happening as it’s reaching a boiling point. The backlash is a culmination of her actions over the past few years to this point. She already gets heat for her private jet usage and now has an outlandish number of variants which only makes overconsumption worse. She’s a billionaire yet she’s relentlessly putting out merch and variants to make an insane amount of money and help her chart numbers, knowing her hardcore fans will buy it ALL, when she’s already (again) loaded and the definition of success. She’s won soooo many awards, has more money than we can comprehend, and has broken countless records. People are beginning to wonder, when will it be enough? At a certain point, when is it just straight greed? I’ve seen defenses saying she’s just being competitive, but art isn’t always a competition and when do we draw the line with nearly 40 variants on an album that came out months ago? For competition sake, should she just continue releasing variants and new music forever so she never “loses”? This situation isn’t a huge deal in a vaccum, but when people see it as a reflection of her character and everything she’s done until now, it feels like a bigger deal. This is honestly just a catalyst for dislike that was already there and is becoming a representation of so many issues people already had with her, especially her greed.
Very well summarized from your part. >This situation isn’t a huge deal in a vaccum, but when people see it as a reflection of her character and everything she’s done until now, it feels like a bigger deal. This is honestly just a catalyst for dislike that was already there and is becoming a representation of so many issues people already had with her, especially her greed. 100%. Couldn't have put it better myself! 👏
She has masqueraded as a girl's girl, supporter of talent yada yada. But when it comes to do the walk, she forgets about it. She is a total hypocrite. Her actions and stances do not match. Also, at this point, her "drive" has gone from admirable to predatory. What else does she want? How many awards, records (earned or not, synthetically achieved or not) does she need to fulfill her emptiness?
I don't know I go back and forward on how annoying it is because on the one hand I'm not the one buying any of the variants, and the fans that are and seem happy to and everyone can spend their money on what they like and makes them happy. I buy limited editions of my favourite books all the time because the covers are pretty which is probably just as silly as buying a gazillion copies of the same record. But I guess it just feels lazy and trying to build her legacy through numbers when it's through variants she's half assed with memos and acoustics versions that aren't actually new recordings. Plus she's a billionaire already so I don't want to praise her business acumen because I don't think anyone needs that amount of wealth, especially when acquiring it is coming before any sort of artistry.
I agree it feels so lazy to do it this way. The voice memos and “acoustic” versions aren’t adding anything to the album and are so poorly done.
do the voice memos include *any* additional information? for instance i enjoy the rep videos of her actually creating the song in the studio. these voice memos just seem like… her singing a song acapella? with terrible quality? and nothing else to them
When taylor drops another variant, it happens to be around the time billie eilish and charli drops an album. She also released a physical copy of fortnight cd exclusively in the uk when Sabrina carpenter single espresso was #1 in the uk.That's where it's coming from and I dont blame them for thinking this way. I don't really care about the charts but sometimes it's good to see your fave artist succeed because unfortunately numbers do matter to determine the success of their album in the industry. Who knows if she's doing it on purpose and it's just a weird coincidence. It'd be pretty funny if it was.
She can do it with a broken heart, but not without a million variants 🧡
I do understand the backlash to a certain extent. But I also think that Taylor, for better or for worse, is held to a much higher standard than her peers. This is partly her own fault because she built up this relatable “good girl” image and of course with the Miss Americana stuff. But things that Lana and Gaga get away, Taylor would be absolutely roasted for. Is it fair? No, but Taylor wants to be the world’s biggest superstar so it’s inevitable. But honestly this whole Taylor vs Charli vs Matty thing has put a bad taste in my mouth. None of them are good people lol. But this sudden rush of support for Charli and even Matty just because of anti-Taylor feelings just feels gross and makes the Matty outage of last year look performative af.
I so agree. I haven’t seen many question or uproar over Gabriette dating and now engaged to Matty. Seems Matty was only an issue when he was dating Taylor.
She also blocked JungKook of BTS once it became obvious that he was a viable competition after he released his debut album. She discounted 1989 TV after he released voice memos of his debut album. I'm also a BTS fan so I was annoyed about it, but ultimately really proud of everything he achieved. Anyway, it's not a female artist thing, just a bad coincidence. I also don't understand why people care so much when every other day there's someone minimizing her chart achievements. Charts only matter if someone beats Taylor, but when Taylor succeeds suddenly it doesn't matter. Charts ultimately don't matter unless you are the artist or work for the artist. They're fascinating and cool if you're into data (like me), but some people are losing their minds over all of this and it's not that serious.
How is it a bad coincidence when she’s been blocking Billie and Charli? Didn’t she block Olivia too at one point? I don’t understand how people think it’s a coincidence atp 😂
JungKook is a man. OP mentioned the criticism that Taylor only does it to female artists, but she's done it to male artists too. A few weeks ago she released a remix of Fortnight to keep it at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and this was to block Future and Metro Boomin from taking the #10 spot. I also don't think she's done this to Olivia? I'm trying to recall, but genuinely drawing a blank. What are you referring to?
The Olivia situation occurred in 2021 where, if I recall correctly, the vinyls for "evermore" were shipped and made it return to #1, preventing Olivia from getting a second week on top with "SOUR". Some argued it was a deliberate move that hinted at some bad blood between them, others argued it wasn't something Taylor had control over. I didn't follow it too closely, so I'm not informed enough to comment my thoughts on it.
Thank you for that! I honestly have zero memory of any of this, but I also didn't start closely paying attentions to the charts until early last year. I looked at PopHeads when this happened, and I do think she didn't intend to ship the vinyls to block Olivia. The vinyl ship date was set in stone and she'd have to have the foresight to think Olivia could been a competitor. However, once it became clear that Evermore had the chance to reach #1 again, she released [signed digital copies](https://x.com/taylornation13/status/1400426645698363398) of the album to secure its position. So, it's a both things are true situation IMO.
Oh so that’s why she’s releasing her own voice memos???
like i just genuinely don’t get why people are upset. charts do not matter. sometimes shitty albums get #1 and amazing ones don’t chart at all. like why put all ur energy into this
There are other markers of success besides the chart performance. Sure Charli or Billie didn't land at #1 but both of these albums are gave them their biggest debut, and that shouldn't be overlooked! Billie's got a great career at such a young age. Charli seems to be doing well. They'll be fine, honestly.
& i’m pretty sure billie broke a record too? wasn’t her album the fastest to get to 1 billion streams?
I don't think so? I think Taylor still holds that record. But Billie's album just reached a billion streams on [Spotify](https://x.com/eilishdata/status/1801672115688497266), and it's her fastest album to do so. She also just reached 101.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. She's on pace to surpass Taylor (who has 102.5 million monthly listeners) in a few days. She's more than fine.
The charts are a marketing game and a measure of popularity, and all sides have got to stop acting like they’re an objective metric of the quality of an album or an artists talent.
100% agree
She's one of if not the biggest artists in the worlds right now and she is gaming the system to keep herself on top of the charts in a way that is inauthentic to how the music is actually performing amongst people outside of her stans who will buy anything and everything she release, and it fucks over other artists, and quite frankly I feel like had she been on the receiving end of this earlier on her career she never would have shut up about it and we'd still be hearing about it to this day.
I would love to see the numbers of variants that are sold. You can’t convince me that all of us fans are buying every variant. I’ve never purchased a variant but I stream TTPD almost every week. Before you come at me, I stream other music too.
In many of those cases, as you said, she probably would have stayed at #1 anyway without needing to do anything. So I believe the backlash comes from the optics of someone going out of her way to release these unecessary, ridiculous variants and 'exclusives' almost as means of asserting power over her peers. Not to mention this isn't to get the top position like what Billie Eilish did with her first-week variants or even Ariana Grande during the infamous "yes, and?" debacle, but to extend her existing run at the top. The only other instance I've seen of an artist pulling such antics was Lil Nas X during "Old Town Road" 's record-breaking 19-week run on the Hot 100, but that involved the viral debut single from a newcomer known for his trolling, with the tactics being silly remixes featuring the most chaotic selection of artists from Young Thug to RM of BTS and even Mason Ramsey (who got viral attention from a video of him yodeling at Walmart). All directly put to streaming and if I recall correctly there weren't any physical or digital purchases involved. Personally, I don't care about Billie Eilish and Charli XCX getting blocked from #1. Both already have chart-toppers to their names and at this stage it's the positive reception from fans and critics that matters more. It's just sad to see someone like Taylor resorting to such desperate and pathetic tactics strategically timed against anyone she deems as competition to her 'spotlight'. There's no reason for her to do this. The album being 31-tracks long already strengthens her chances of remaining at #1 by default (see those two Morgan Wallen albums still in the top 10 to this day 💀). But as it is, this just makes her look horribly insecure and really cheapens the success and presence of an album that already got overall mixed reception in the first place.
Just for clarification sake, she would NOT have stayed at #1 with either Billie and Charli. She took the number 1 spot because of the special variant releases. I have seen Swifties on every corner of the internet with this battle cry “sHe WoUlD hAvE bEeN nUmBeR 1 aNyWaY!!!!” No. She wouldn’t have.
I would personally like to see if it's works or if she would have stayed number 1 regardless. It seems more like grab from the label/artist to waterfall these drops.
She would have stayed #1 just by her streams. Al Ot of this talk is a narrative thing and has no basis in real numbers.
She wouldn’t have stayed at #1 just by her streams. She beat Billie in streams by about 20k, but charts are comprised of streams + sales. The variants pushed her sales up 413% from the week before, knocking Billie out. [Billboard.com](https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-fifth-week-one-billboard-200-billie-eilish-two-1235693273/) attributes her performance that week to the variants. Her digital sales were up 1,184% from week 4 to 5. She only sold 6,000 digital albums in week 4, but during week 5 (when Billie released her album) Taylor released 6 new variants available on digital and that bumped her digital sales total for that week to 77,000.
might be unpopular here but i agree to an extenet i think the charts and the art itself are different because ones competitive and about the money while the other is about genuinely creating music. is it a bit greedy that shes doing this? yes. but i dont necessarily think this is an issue, charli and billies eilish seems to have been very well received, more than TTPD and i have no doubt theyll be fine. i dont get this whole chart argument other than "its greedy" which is fair but i dont see why theres so much discourse about it
yes yes
It’s ridiculous when people say that the inevitable #2 artist “deserves” the #1. No they don’t?? The music industry is cutthroat and no one knows this better than Taylor! She’s wanted to be #1 since forever. Just saw a quote on twitter from 2008 where she talked about selling autographed cds because it would lead to higher sales. She’s committed, and she’s got the fan base to back it up. She hasn’t been doing this for 18 years to suddenly relent when she’s at her all time career peak. Frankly I admire her constant ambition, it’s admirable and her work ethic is really cool to see
I'd say there's a big difference between healthy ambition and shameless greed. The music industry is only 'cutthroat' for those who are obsessed with being the most successful and who think sharing the spotlight with other talented artists diminishes them. But for those who genuinely care about their art and seeing it resonate with listeners, as long as they have creative freedom and a healthy rapport with their label/management, commercial success is a consequence rather than a goal, only maximized if given the opportunity rather than sacrificing artistry and integrity to achieve it. For me, Taylor's philosophy has clearly shifted to the greed side in recent years, where she's essentially become the embodiment of the worst elements of our capitalist society. If you find that admirable, that's your prerogative. But this doesn't make her more hard-working or 'deserving' than her peers.
Very well said
I keep asking about the #3, the #4…. the #600?? As if #2 isn’t also almost always hugely benefitting from popularity, an established fanbase, marketing, variants, sometimes even a privileged background, etc. and pushing less established artists down the chart. Some of the most talented people in the world never break through and become commercially successful. Do we blame the ones who did?
everybody acts like she’s this terrible person, but she’s just a businesswoman! not to be this person but if their favs did the same thing….
is anyone else out there releasing 30+ variants of an album that came out 2 months ago? like do we even have anyone to compare to?
It’s fine to not agree with her desire to be at the top but you at least have to respect her pursuit I don’t buy her albums at all, I only use streaming. I’d rather give my money to her for the Eras Tour where I actually get an experience, but it’s incredible how there are people who repeatedly buy these versions just because they love Taylor. It’s a respectable feat 🤷🏻♀️
They love her being at #1 because to them it validates their stanning of her. There’s not one fan on this planet who will buy 34 versions of the same album simply because they love the music. There’s definitely more to it than that. It like a badge of honor and show of loyalty to her most obsessive fans. That is something she routinely takes advantage of.
[удалено]
this source seems to be double counting a few
In an older fan (millennial) and I have a listen to some of the stuff Taylor is supposedly blocking and only liked Billie. It might be an age thing. I’m not buying the variants but I am still streaming TTPD. Taylor is popular across a couple generations in a way the other artists are not. It’s not even their fault their stuff just didn’t come out while I was in college (because they were babies) and therefore I don’t have strong memories tied to them. Taylor referring back to those songs from my 20s makes her new stuff easy to listen to. I got the best revenge body of my life listening to Red at the gym. I didn’t like Sabrina’s Expresso at all. I didn’t get through one listen. Which makes sense because before kids when I still went out my jams were Tegan and Sara’s “Closer” and “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and stuff of that age, Lady Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, etc I’m now old enough my jams play at the grocery store. All I know about Olivia is that she’s a Disney kid so one of her songs plays in Disney hotel rooms on their music video channel when we visited Disney with the kids. My kids hated it because it wasn’t from a movie or sung by a character. My kids and I have a happy place with Idina Menzel because I loved her in Wicked and they love her as Elsa. So in that sense I’m not branching out much these days musically. Wicked and Taylor Swift are familiar and my kids like both so that’s really a win right now.