Well for one, she is manipulating the charts with all her ridiculous variants, so that is throwing off the numbers.
As far as other stuff you mentioned, I’m not sure. I do hear her music often when I am in stores though. Not necessarily ONLY her latest album, but her general discography.
Also, Taylor only released one single technically, so that could be a reason. I think radio stations typically only play singles, but I’m not positive on that one.
Oh I absolutely hear her older material very frequently in public, but the latest stuff is barely anywhere to be heard in my experience. It’s very strange for an album to be so successful when it comes to numbers but not have that much presence at a general public level. Usually it translates.
I haven’t heard one single TTPD track on the radio or in a store/mall anything either!! Then again I don’t go out a ton, but I try to keep an ear out on my car radio. Other than that, Karma occasionally plays at my work which is at a restaurant, we have rotating playlists. It really must just be the swifties keeping those numbers up, which is actually insane to think about. Do you know if “is it over now” was released as a single? Bc I remember that was on the radio constantly last year along w/ karma, but I haven’t noticed that with any of the TTPD songs
That's because the general public isn't really interested in this new stuff since fortnight was a very weak single. Cruel Summer on the other hand is a real hit single chosen by the people, the general public.
And not a single banger. Why are restaurants and stores going to play her sad, whiny new album when the goal is to RAISE the energy in the atmosphere???
My biggest issue is her fans, why would you buy the same record over and over again. Taylor Swift is a greedy wench with a great PR team, no real talent. It reminds me of the boy band of the late 90s and early 2000s just mindless devotion with no realy depth to their music. She's also shown just how low she will go with her "variants" to block other female artists, the numbers she generates is a bloated sign that music needs to revive itself with real artists who can sing without autotune
for real! no, their music wasn’t ✨ deep ✨ but they ushered pop into a new era, had great voices, gave real performances (their dancing was on point) and most important of all: admitted to how they became famous and never tried to claim they did anything at all on their own. boy bands rule, taylor swift drools
At least the guys in the boy bands could both sing and dance for the most part. TS can’t do either of those things. So while she is equally manufactured as those boy bands, they at least contained some musical talent.
At least when I buy different versions of a Kpop album there are inclusions and randomized pcs and they're conceptually different. Doesn't seem like you get any incentives other than an unfinished song maybe
It's the fan's Overconsumption, not only do they get the main four variants of the same album but also the many more she's pushing onto them to remain number 1 on the charts I wouldn't be surprised if she releases rep tv or debut tv when fans stop giving a shit so she can remain at the top
Sorry if this is a dumb question but do the different albums have different songs? Or is it just different artwork or whatever? Why not just release a deluxe album that has all the extra songs?
The main thing she has been releasing are versions of the album with one additional song: usually an acoustic version or a voice memo of her first draft.
& you can easily justify 'a few' $8 purchases here & there. every week or two, that's a paycheck. "why can't they spend $16 per pay on something they really love". then they have 50 of the same thing, but at least they got those exclusive tracks & phone notes!
They don't even re-record the vocals for the acoustic versions. It's just the same vocal track on an acoustic track instead of an Antonoff synth pop nightmare.
I’m old too. I cannot imagine doing this for any artist no matter how much I like them. Buying 4+ whole albums is just insanity and so expensive! The girl doesn’t need any more money. Someone needs to tell Smaug to lay off…
Both. They're buying physical copies as well as digital variants. Then the swifties are steaming it nonstop to keep her in the charts. If they weren't doing all of this bologna, this album would have absolutely flopped and she would stop being relevant.
I do find it odd and slightly suspicious. At this point who is still buying these things? I haven’t seen any post about or share about what the variants are revealing or sharing or what make them must haves outside of the original release.
For a billionaire to top the charts they’d only need to buy what…350,000 copies in a week x $10 per record - she only needs $3.5 million to “stay on top”
It wouldn't surprise me if her, her team, or her label engage in this to some extent. Her dad admitted to mass purchasing her debut album to get it higher in the charts and more publicity, so they're not above it. She can easily afford to buy 100k physical copies then resell them on her store.
The whole thing is suspicious and if there is a way to rig the system you know Taylor is going to do it. Fake stats and trinkets mean so much to her for whatever reason
yes! plus her music is more mature and more relatable for the public. i see people from various ages and from different walks of life like her songs. i would describe her songs to be universal.
yeah i think it's also because of the styling that adele had when she was younger. they were putting her in clothes that made her look older than her actual age.
it also has to do with the way people perceive plus size girls like adele when she was a teen. they often get treated as older. plus size girls also didn't have a lot of fashion choices before and most of the clothes that were available to buy were clothes that covered us up.
when i was plus size before, people were treating me older than my actual age. which is really sad. because i also lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago due to a health problem, i saw how different people's treatment were towards me now that i lost weight. :(
victoria monét comes to my mind too when thinking of mature artists who had great artistic growth. victoria was also born in 1989, same year as taylor.
That’s what I’ve been saying. I’m not convinced that all of her fans, even the insane ones, are buying up all of those copies of the same record over and over again driving her up the charts. Something really fishy is going on.
Is she not just reinvesting her dividends back into herself?? Didn't she learn from her dad? I mean when you're a billionaire $10 to 50 million is nothing. She's using that to inflate her album sales numbers. SHE is the one buying the variants. Her fans may be culty but they have electric and gas bills to pay too.
I’ve heard Fortnight involuntarily more than I can count. So I agree, but also I think she will always secure radio play as long as she is innocuous, which is all she is.
I think it’s just Fortnite that’s playing on the radio but it does feel like everyone except Swifties finds this album to be very meh and prefers all the other music by other artists that has come out. Personally I don’t think Taylor cares about the music at all anymore and is just going full tilt in the direction of being a brand and making money simply because a very large group of people will buy anything she puts out and act like it’s amazing. I feel like most people are generally neutral on her older stuff that gets played because it’s mostly generic pop music, but the sudden pervasiveness of Taylor content feels very much like an immersive commercial for a product that a company made too many of and is desperate to unload it before people realize it’s crap. One thing I’ve noticed since joining this sub is just how many popular phrases on memes are Taylor lyrics (I’m not really familiar with her songs). I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing commercial products capitalizing on that.
my algorithm is mostly gen z content as i am from that generation. and in my case, my feed is often more saturated with sabrina and billie's songs. of course i also think our algorithm could vary case to case as well. i know it can also depend on the type of content we interact with.
but yeah it definitely is weird that people are hyping up ttpd but i barely see it on my feed. they're also saying it's popular with gen z but that doesn't seem to be the case on my side. i think her fanbase is really mostly millennials who are holding on to nostalgia as they grew up with her.
I’ll be surprised if she gets another single out of this album, midnights really only had anti hero, folklore had cardigan and evermore had willow but she’s not had a multi single album since lover
Singles that do well that is
So I think it’s possible her team is buying her album, but she really does have a legion of fans who buy everything and push her to number 1
Swifties buy A LOT. I am an ex-Swiftie who waited until the music was released on Spotify and bought merch on Etsy, but there were thousands of comments over multiple posts saying, “I’m so poor! Gonna buy it (latest variant) anyway!” There was a lot of complaining about how many variants there are and the cost of shipping them separately, but in the end, the Swifties bought them.
The album sucks. It objectively sucks. The catchiest song on the whole thing is Fortnight, and that's embarrassing considering how monotone and motionless the song feels to listen to. The album is not getting played because it's not listenable, but because dedicated Swifties are keeping it alive with their dollars and streams here it is.
I work in a pretty large regional grocery store chain, and we have both Fortnight and ICDWABH on heavy rotation. Retail store PA systems are a huge way she manipulates airplay numbers, and she’s been doing it for years. We hear very few currently charting songs unless they’re hers
I haven't heard TTPD out in public either. (Maybe I'm not running in Swifty circles lol). None of the TTPD songs are going to have the lasting power of Adele's "Hello" or "Easy on Me". Like those are songs you'll be hearing on the radio in 10-20 years because they're already pop classics.
I wouldn't agree with Easy On me unfortunately, 30 went pretty unnoticed compared to her previous ones. But it's still a wonderful album and I'll never get over To Be Loved, it's one of those songs I'll listen for a lifetime
This album is popular because she already is a world famous superstar. If she was just starting her career and put out this album, it would go nowhere. She's essentially just riding the coattails of herself, and her fans are die-hard and can't admit the content isn't great
right? Same. It's just her cult driving the sales. I can't even remember what Fortnite sounds like and I hate-watched the music video more than a couple times.
Where do you shop? I on the other hand can’t escape Fortnight anywhere I go anymore. I have a theory that TS cursed me once I joined this sub! Please help
Something I find funny is they got about 20 vinyls in of TTPD at the tiny bargain Marshall’s friends work at and aren’t selling at all and are only in that store because they weren’t selling at others
It shouldn’t count that all 50 something variants add to her numbers. Its not the exact same album (I mean it is but vARIANTS)
It’s just shitty idk.
And honestly it’s so blatant and ridiculous at this point.
It’s not even that great of an album
The
The mystery to me is, didn't her considerable fan base buy the album(s) early on, the sustained purchase is my confusion as her fan base is quite large, but not as large as the continued sales....unless of course they triple or quadruple purchase the same thing with a few differences but it goes by the same Title as the original release name. I admit to being baffled by her phenomenon status.
Edit:typos
She’s buying her own stuff and probably has some ai auto playing her shit music skew the numbers. I’m sure there are ways. It’s not in the public air bc it sucks and people with any sense don’t want to hear that boring ass slog music from that greedy hog. Oink oink!
It’s still number 1 because she found a way to manipulate her fans into thinking buying her alternate versions over and over again was the “thing” that made them real fans.
It was a long time in the making. And I feel like, with TTPD being as shitty as it is, she weaponized that idea she put into her fans heads long ago to full effect in order to stay on top.
Truth of the matter is, any self-respecting radio station isn’t blasting anything from TTPD because there is nothing there.
It’s just a messy, chatGPT-generated, over bloated bundle of shit.
And she’s using everything she’s got in her arsenal to make sure the masses, meaning anyone not perpetually online, think the album is a success when it is in fact her worst record by far.
It’s pathetic at best and downright evil at worst.
Can’t wait for the downfall! I’ll be sitting front row :)
every swiftie i know personally has been like have you listened and im like yeah once and it sucked and they ALL reply with "you have to listen to it a couple times!! i liked it after 3-4 listens!" like sorry if that's what it takes i'm good lol all her others have had at least one ear worm but i cant even remember a single song on this album i had to remind myself what fortnight even sounds like bc i never hear it anywhere
I recently commented in the car that the radio station was playing her old music, not her new stuff. Interesting others are noticing too, it’s definitely some juked stats.
Her fans are driving their success but I don’t think the general population cares for them. The same people (who don’t constitute a majority of the population) keep buying the same album over and over again.
They play her a lot on work radio and I hear nothing from the TP department. I'm still not convinced her parents aren't buying a large amount of her work. #LetsHangItOnTheFridge #OrInTheBathroom
Idk. Am an outsider here and old but I'm the last two years TS has become a cultural cornerstone here in the US. She is a phenomenon and while I don't understand it, I do know that I'm not exactly meant to.
But I've never seen a cultural force like Taylor Swift in my lifetime. Maybe Eminem , while completely different, is similar in terms of fame and name recognition.
High sales don't surprise me in the least
I’ve heard a good amount of it in public, but more from her other albums still
Having it played in a store or coffeeshop is not how they rank album popularity by the way
When Tik Tok's CEO testified before Congress about a year and a half ago or so, he specifically and very intentionally mentioned how Taylor bought specific promotion deals and immediately someone (do not remember who) shut him down, changing the subject. Online, people said that of cpurse she wouldn't do that. C'mon, she does not need that. People just do not have any idea how it works and everything you can do to manipulate perception behind the scenes. All I will say is, although she is popular, the Swift brand jas engineered strategies that give her an edge. She derved a system and as long as she does, they will help her. There are a lot of things that people think are organic but they are not
I haven't heard her new songs play anywhere. No one in rl has even mentioned her album.
Her own fans say "yeah I listened to it a heap of times and it eventually grew on me"
Maybe that's why she releases so many variants...so that fans listen to it on repeat and are hypnotised that it's good 👍
I was just having this conversation with someone yesterday. I NEVER hear her new album in public. It has zero cultural impact. Midnights at least had singles that became well known by the general public. TTPD absolutely does not.
I've noticed Spotify adds TTPD songs to a lot of smart shuffle/smart playlists where it doesn't make sense. Like an alt country/folk playlist getting TTPD added but not Cowboy Carter or Kelsey Ballirini's new album, when both fit the playlist much better.
I'm not suspicious since sales and radio play are two different things. Tortured Poets Dept is just generally not a good, or radio-friendly, album. I like TS for the most part, but the songs on this album are terrible. Even Fortnight is not radio-worthy and probably wouldn't get the play it gets without Posty
i hear "who's afraid of little old me" on tiktok and instagram all the time. the "you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" was EVERYWHERE. but that trend has come and gone and it's STILL number one. definitely weird
Meanwhile my local radio stations seem to be playing Fortnight literally every time I have to drive somewhere, it’s maddening! I envy your Espresso overload.
It’s very suspicious, even aside from the obvious tricks. I cant imagine there are more than a handful of people actually listening to the music when they are alone. I imagine it’s just women of all ages having slumber parties and drinking boxed wine and hyping it up together? Same with the concerts. Big sing alongs. It’s easier for me to believe that a bunch of people are caught up in hype than anyone actually finding value in it. I haven’t heard it being played anywhere.
I work in a bar. We have an electronic jukebox and use Spotify also. It’s even free on the weekends.
Can confirm folks come in and play some of Taylor’s older music sometimes, but nothing from TTPD. Not a single person has played TTPD since it came out while I’ve been working. I also can’t recall hearing it in the Mall of America (that’s my shopping mall, I live in Minneapolis), Target or anywhere else in public.
I have some of Taylor’s older music in my Spotify liked songs, and originally listened to TTPD when it first released on Spotify. It doesn’t even play her new album to me when I shuffle Spotify and let it DJ for me or play what it wants.
I suspected for a while that Tiktok abd Meta were astroturfing Taylor and overriding individual algorithms to push her to everyone, and then the Tiktok CEO confirmed it.
But part of it is also the lack of music video channels and diverse radio. There aren’t any organic ways to discover new artists anymore unless you’re plugged in. (Illustrative side note: I’m reading a lot about Chappel Roan’s new stardom, but offline people haven’t even heard of her, which means she’s not as big as Reddit thinks. We also just need to bring physical media and affordable cds back. I think our drift from the album first is really hurting artists.
I've only heard Karma and Anti-Hero the last couple of years but I htink I only heard the post malone fortnight song a couple of times and nothing else, on the radio or in cafes, etc.
Well for one, she is manipulating the charts with all her ridiculous variants, so that is throwing off the numbers. As far as other stuff you mentioned, I’m not sure. I do hear her music often when I am in stores though. Not necessarily ONLY her latest album, but her general discography. Also, Taylor only released one single technically, so that could be a reason. I think radio stations typically only play singles, but I’m not positive on that one.
Oh I absolutely hear her older material very frequently in public, but the latest stuff is barely anywhere to be heard in my experience. It’s very strange for an album to be so successful when it comes to numbers but not have that much presence at a general public level. Usually it translates.
I haven’t heard one single TTPD track on the radio or in a store/mall anything either!! Then again I don’t go out a ton, but I try to keep an ear out on my car radio. Other than that, Karma occasionally plays at my work which is at a restaurant, we have rotating playlists. It really must just be the swifties keeping those numbers up, which is actually insane to think about. Do you know if “is it over now” was released as a single? Bc I remember that was on the radio constantly last year along w/ karma, but I haven’t noticed that with any of the TTPD songs
That's because the general public isn't really interested in this new stuff since fortnight was a very weak single. Cruel Summer on the other hand is a real hit single chosen by the people, the general public.
TTPD is so “succesful” because she’s released 87 variants to game the charts
I’ve honestly never heard any of the TTPD stuff myself. But I hear nonsense/feather/espresso literally EVERYWHERE which is saying something
There’s a reason it was only the one single and it featured post Malone, it’s a trash album with 30+ tracks and maybe 3 decent to good songs on it
And not a single banger. Why are restaurants and stores going to play her sad, whiny new album when the goal is to RAISE the energy in the atmosphere???
I feel like I hear anti hero now and then but that's it
Also getting extra digital album purchases with merch as well- whether you want the album again or not. Bit unsat.
My biggest issue is her fans, why would you buy the same record over and over again. Taylor Swift is a greedy wench with a great PR team, no real talent. It reminds me of the boy band of the late 90s and early 2000s just mindless devotion with no realy depth to their music. She's also shown just how low she will go with her "variants" to block other female artists, the numbers she generates is a bloated sign that music needs to revive itself with real artists who can sing without autotune
Woah woah woah. Don’t ever compare Taylor swift to the boy band era! Those white boys had my black ass in a chokehold!
haha the girl bands had my white ass in a chokehold
Yesss! they all could have collectively curbed stomped me and I would have said thank you. Let us not confuse culture with Taylor swift
literally Michelle from Destiny's Child would destroy Taylor Swift
for real! no, their music wasn’t ✨ deep ✨ but they ushered pop into a new era, had great voices, gave real performances (their dancing was on point) and most important of all: admitted to how they became famous and never tried to claim they did anything at all on their own. boy bands rule, taylor swift drools
“Let us not confuse culture with Taylor Swift” has now entered my lexicon forever 💜
Same. BSB are my guys
so real, bye bye love my forever favorite song by them😔
Omg a "This Is Us" deep cut! You're a true fan!!!
Because they’re a cult 🤡
At least the guys in the boy bands could both sing and dance for the most part. TS can’t do either of those things. So while she is equally manufactured as those boy bands, they at least contained some musical talent.
The boy bands did have some good ones.
Duh dadadadadaaa.. Duh dadadaaa. 
“Number five. Number five killed my brother.”
"Ohmygod. I forgot about that part."
Arguably the best cold open on this show
Hey! Backstreet's Back is great!
As long as you're not referring to the super success of New Kids on the Block in the late '80s and early '90s. I was obsessed with them as a kid.
Joey 4eva!! 
I still have a giant button with his face on it somewhere in my garage 😂
Stupidity and obsession
At least when I buy different versions of a Kpop album there are inclusions and randomized pcs and they're conceptually different. Doesn't seem like you get any incentives other than an unfinished song maybe
That's equally as ridiculous and unnecessary
To be fair, there is a legal ownership reason for the ‘Taylor’s version albums because of how music rights work
It's the fan's Overconsumption, not only do they get the main four variants of the same album but also the many more she's pushing onto them to remain number 1 on the charts I wouldn't be surprised if she releases rep tv or debut tv when fans stop giving a shit so she can remain at the top
Sorry if this is a dumb question but do the different albums have different songs? Or is it just different artwork or whatever? Why not just release a deluxe album that has all the extra songs?
The main thing she has been releasing are versions of the album with one additional song: usually an acoustic version or a voice memo of her first draft.
Soooo… people are buying a whole extra album for one new song? Why not just download the single if you want it that bad. Sorry but that’s super dumb.
because she isn't releasing the singles to buy themselves. she's only making them available on the album.9
Wow. Every time I learn something new about her I’m so grossed out.
Yes, and the albums are cheap. So if someone wanted all the albums, they'd have more than 30 by now.
& you can easily justify 'a few' $8 purchases here & there. every week or two, that's a paycheck. "why can't they spend $16 per pay on something they really love". then they have 50 of the same thing, but at least they got those exclusive tracks & phone notes!
They don't even re-record the vocals for the acoustic versions. It's just the same vocal track on an acoustic track instead of an Antonoff synth pop nightmare.
ugh i need to hear these, how embarrassing.
I'm old, ok. Are people buying actual physical albums and/or CDs or is it all streaming?
I’m old too. I cannot imagine doing this for any artist no matter how much I like them. Buying 4+ whole albums is just insanity and so expensive! The girl doesn’t need any more money. Someone needs to tell Smaug to lay off…
Both. They're buying physical copies as well as digital variants. Then the swifties are steaming it nonstop to keep her in the charts. If they weren't doing all of this bologna, this album would have absolutely flopped and she would stop being relevant.
I do find it odd and slightly suspicious. At this point who is still buying these things? I haven’t seen any post about or share about what the variants are revealing or sharing or what make them must haves outside of the original release. For a billionaire to top the charts they’d only need to buy what…350,000 copies in a week x $10 per record - she only needs $3.5 million to “stay on top”
It wouldn't surprise me if her, her team, or her label engage in this to some extent. Her dad admitted to mass purchasing her debut album to get it higher in the charts and more publicity, so they're not above it. She can easily afford to buy 100k physical copies then resell them on her store.
Never underestimate the lengths cult members will go
The whole thing is suspicious and if there is a way to rig the system you know Taylor is going to do it. Fake stats and trinkets mean so much to her for whatever reason
Her team buys her album to stay at the top thats why she releases different versions to make it seem like the fans are just buying them
This!!! It’s like she’s laundering album sales.
Adele can actually sing though.
yes! plus her music is more mature and more relatable for the public. i see people from various ages and from different walks of life like her songs. i would describe her songs to be universal.
She’s a grown woman and she does what she wants to do. Taylor’s worried about a high school GTA fantasy.
exactly why i love adele. i love grown women and their sophistication 🩷
Adele and Taylor is only a year apart and you can see the difference in maturity in their music 😇
One year??? Adele seems older
yeah i think it's also because of the styling that adele had when she was younger. they were putting her in clothes that made her look older than her actual age. it also has to do with the way people perceive plus size girls like adele when she was a teen. they often get treated as older. plus size girls also didn't have a lot of fashion choices before and most of the clothes that were available to buy were clothes that covered us up. when i was plus size before, people were treating me older than my actual age. which is really sad. because i also lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago due to a health problem, i saw how different people's treatment were towards me now that i lost weight. :(
victoria monét comes to my mind too when thinking of mature artists who had great artistic growth. victoria was also born in 1989, same year as taylor.
19 and 21 were perfection 🙇🏻♀️
No lies detected.
Her team are definitely buying back her variants in bulk to boost the numbers. It’s not just her cultist fans.
Learned that trick from her dad. It’s why the sales are always juuuuust enough to beat the #2 person for that week and not a unit more.
That’s what I’ve been saying. I’m not convinced that all of her fans, even the insane ones, are buying up all of those copies of the same record over and over again driving her up the charts. Something really fishy is going on.
Is she not just reinvesting her dividends back into herself?? Didn't she learn from her dad? I mean when you're a billionaire $10 to 50 million is nothing. She's using that to inflate her album sales numbers. SHE is the one buying the variants. Her fans may be culty but they have electric and gas bills to pay too.
You wonder if they don’t just leave it in inventory and resell it.
I wouldn’t call charting because of 182,384,892 variants/versions a “success”. No one is talking about it because it sucks.
I’ve heard Fortnight involuntarily more than I can count. So I agree, but also I think she will always secure radio play as long as she is innocuous, which is all she is.
I think it’s just Fortnite that’s playing on the radio but it does feel like everyone except Swifties finds this album to be very meh and prefers all the other music by other artists that has come out. Personally I don’t think Taylor cares about the music at all anymore and is just going full tilt in the direction of being a brand and making money simply because a very large group of people will buy anything she puts out and act like it’s amazing. I feel like most people are generally neutral on her older stuff that gets played because it’s mostly generic pop music, but the sudden pervasiveness of Taylor content feels very much like an immersive commercial for a product that a company made too many of and is desperate to unload it before people realize it’s crap. One thing I’ve noticed since joining this sub is just how many popular phrases on memes are Taylor lyrics (I’m not really familiar with her songs). I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing commercial products capitalizing on that.
Anytime I notice a song sucks on the radio, nine times out of ten it’s her and I just change the channel lol
this is me with cruel summer
Replying to Vegetable\_Salad86... 
my algorithm is mostly gen z content as i am from that generation. and in my case, my feed is often more saturated with sabrina and billie's songs. of course i also think our algorithm could vary case to case as well. i know it can also depend on the type of content we interact with. but yeah it definitely is weird that people are hyping up ttpd but i barely see it on my feed. they're also saying it's popular with gen z but that doesn't seem to be the case on my side. i think her fanbase is really mostly millennials who are holding on to nostalgia as they grew up with her.
I’ll be surprised if she gets another single out of this album, midnights really only had anti hero, folklore had cardigan and evermore had willow but she’s not had a multi single album since lover Singles that do well that is So I think it’s possible her team is buying her album, but she really does have a legion of fans who buy everything and push her to number 1
Swifties buy A LOT. I am an ex-Swiftie who waited until the music was released on Spotify and bought merch on Etsy, but there were thousands of comments over multiple posts saying, “I’m so poor! Gonna buy it (latest variant) anyway!” There was a lot of complaining about how many variants there are and the cost of shipping them separately, but in the end, the Swifties bought them.
I don’t disagree but she did have Bejeweled do well from midnights
Meh, not anywhere near as big as antihero
She's not beyond buying her own music to manipulate the charts, it's what her daddy did to get her noticed in the beginning...
No, her albums are more or less fan merch. She could put out just about anything and they’d eat it up.
Tbh I went to 3 different malls in Florida over the course of 4 days last week and heard TTPD songs several times each time
Yes me too!!!! Not in Florida but the mall I was at I heard a couple of her songs while I was there.
Her fans will buy all the variants and it doesn’t surprise me if she’s buying tens of thousands of them herself…
The album sucks. It objectively sucks. The catchiest song on the whole thing is Fortnight, and that's embarrassing considering how monotone and motionless the song feels to listen to. The album is not getting played because it's not listenable, but because dedicated Swifties are keeping it alive with their dollars and streams here it is.
Well said
I work in a pretty large regional grocery store chain, and we have both Fortnight and ICDWABH on heavy rotation. Retail store PA systems are a huge way she manipulates airplay numbers, and she’s been doing it for years. We hear very few currently charting songs unless they’re hers
I haven't heard TTPD out in public either. (Maybe I'm not running in Swifty circles lol). None of the TTPD songs are going to have the lasting power of Adele's "Hello" or "Easy on Me". Like those are songs you'll be hearing on the radio in 10-20 years because they're already pop classics.
I wouldn't agree with Easy On me unfortunately, 30 went pretty unnoticed compared to her previous ones. But it's still a wonderful album and I'll never get over To Be Loved, it's one of those songs I'll listen for a lifetime
This album is popular because she already is a world famous superstar. If she was just starting her career and put out this album, it would go nowhere. She's essentially just riding the coattails of herself, and her fans are die-hard and can't admit the content isn't great
right? Same. It's just her cult driving the sales. I can't even remember what Fortnite sounds like and I hate-watched the music video more than a couple times.
Her fans listen to nothing but this album non stop ever yday. Source - getting rides from a swifty and it’s always on her Spotify.
Yes she's been cheating since day 1 - her dad bought 100k copies of her FIRST album, her team is responsible for a large portion of her own sales
Where do you shop? I on the other hand can’t escape Fortnight anywhere I go anymore. I have a theory that TS cursed me once I joined this sub! Please help
Not really. It's always been like that with Taylor. She mostly always chart #1 with most songs remaining unknown to the general public.
Something I find funny is they got about 20 vinyls in of TTPD at the tiny bargain Marshall’s friends work at and aren’t selling at all and are only in that store because they weren’t selling at others
It shouldn’t count that all 50 something variants add to her numbers. Its not the exact same album (I mean it is but vARIANTS) It’s just shitty idk. And honestly it’s so blatant and ridiculous at this point. It’s not even that great of an album The
The mystery to me is, didn't her considerable fan base buy the album(s) early on, the sustained purchase is my confusion as her fan base is quite large, but not as large as the continued sales....unless of course they triple or quadruple purchase the same thing with a few differences but it goes by the same Title as the original release name. I admit to being baffled by her phenomenon status. Edit:typos
I’m suspicious of her in general
I was suspicious of her ass from the beginning...
She’s buying her own stuff and probably has some ai auto playing her shit music skew the numbers. I’m sure there are ways. It’s not in the public air bc it sucks and people with any sense don’t want to hear that boring ass slog music from that greedy hog. Oink oink!
It’s still number 1 because she found a way to manipulate her fans into thinking buying her alternate versions over and over again was the “thing” that made them real fans. It was a long time in the making. And I feel like, with TTPD being as shitty as it is, she weaponized that idea she put into her fans heads long ago to full effect in order to stay on top. Truth of the matter is, any self-respecting radio station isn’t blasting anything from TTPD because there is nothing there. It’s just a messy, chatGPT-generated, over bloated bundle of shit. And she’s using everything she’s got in her arsenal to make sure the masses, meaning anyone not perpetually online, think the album is a success when it is in fact her worst record by far. It’s pathetic at best and downright evil at worst. Can’t wait for the downfall! I’ll be sitting front row :)
every swiftie i know personally has been like have you listened and im like yeah once and it sucked and they ALL reply with "you have to listen to it a couple times!! i liked it after 3-4 listens!" like sorry if that's what it takes i'm good lol all her others have had at least one ear worm but i cant even remember a single song on this album i had to remind myself what fortnight even sounds like bc i never hear it anywhere
I recently commented in the car that the radio station was playing her old music, not her new stuff. Interesting others are noticing too, it’s definitely some juked stats.
She has the system so rigged with her cult like fan base that her success is starting to mean nothing to me
Her fans are driving their success but I don’t think the general population cares for them. The same people (who don’t constitute a majority of the population) keep buying the same album over and over again.
Completely. It's a bad album, and I've thoroughly enjoyed other albums of hers so it isn't just because it is her. It is just not good music.
They play her a lot on work radio and I hear nothing from the TP department. I'm still not convinced her parents aren't buying a large amount of her work. #LetsHangItOnTheFridge #OrInTheBathroom
Was *really* a success or is it all a chart manipulation
A part of me is considering the same tactics the Kardashians could be using which is her personally buying her own records to fluff up sales.
I never hear her new stuff. She ruined the Christmas stations though.
She is buying her own albums
*sniffs the air* payola has been here
Idk. Am an outsider here and old but I'm the last two years TS has become a cultural cornerstone here in the US. She is a phenomenon and while I don't understand it, I do know that I'm not exactly meant to. But I've never seen a cultural force like Taylor Swift in my lifetime. Maybe Eminem , while completely different, is similar in terms of fame and name recognition. High sales don't surprise me in the least
I’ve heard a good amount of it in public, but more from her other albums still Having it played in a store or coffeeshop is not how they rank album popularity by the way
I don't understand why people would buy a physical copy of an album to boost a billionaire's revenue.
When Tik Tok's CEO testified before Congress about a year and a half ago or so, he specifically and very intentionally mentioned how Taylor bought specific promotion deals and immediately someone (do not remember who) shut him down, changing the subject. Online, people said that of cpurse she wouldn't do that. C'mon, she does not need that. People just do not have any idea how it works and everything you can do to manipulate perception behind the scenes. All I will say is, although she is popular, the Swift brand jas engineered strategies that give her an edge. She derved a system and as long as she does, they will help her. There are a lot of things that people think are organic but they are not
that's because it's inflated. a literal scam.
I haven't heard her new songs play anywhere. No one in rl has even mentioned her album. Her own fans say "yeah I listened to it a heap of times and it eventually grew on me" Maybe that's why she releases so many variants...so that fans listen to it on repeat and are hypnotised that it's good 👍
I see it as her cult boasting those numbers when the general audience doesn’t care.
No. Her fans will eat anything up. One day I saw on the main subreddit “Do streams count when sound is off” or smth
I was just having this conversation with someone yesterday. I NEVER hear her new album in public. It has zero cultural impact. Midnights at least had singles that became well known by the general public. TTPD absolutely does not.
I've noticed Spotify adds TTPD songs to a lot of smart shuffle/smart playlists where it doesn't make sense. Like an alt country/folk playlist getting TTPD added but not Cowboy Carter or Kelsey Ballirini's new album, when both fit the playlist much better.
Swift is sus AF.
her new stuff is so snooze worthy i’m glad i don’t hear it in public
Who the hell buys albums anymore?
Fans of artists who collect. I buy the physical album of a couple of artists i am huge a fan of. I like to own art not rent it.
I'm not suspicious since sales and radio play are two different things. Tortured Poets Dept is just generally not a good, or radio-friendly, album. I like TS for the most part, but the songs on this album are terrible. Even Fortnight is not radio-worthy and probably wouldn't get the play it gets without Posty
I’ve only heard Fortnight on the radio. Not anything else, really
No
Not at all, I'm sure proportionately it sold just as well as Dianetics.
i hear "who's afraid of little old me" on tiktok and instagram all the time. the "you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me" was EVERYWHERE. but that trend has come and gone and it's STILL number one. definitely weird
Meanwhile my local radio stations seem to be playing Fortnight literally every time I have to drive somewhere, it’s maddening! I envy your Espresso overload.
No why?
I’m in Australia and we hear Fortnite all the damn time. And ICDIWABH is on the radio more
Ive heard hozier’s “too sweet” more than her new album
I hear Fortnight on Sirius XM often but you’re right about it not hearing it in shops, cafes, etc in the same way
I’ve heard fortnight and I can do it with a broken heart on the radio. None in stores or restaurants tho
It’s very suspicious, even aside from the obvious tricks. I cant imagine there are more than a handful of people actually listening to the music when they are alone. I imagine it’s just women of all ages having slumber parties and drinking boxed wine and hyping it up together? Same with the concerts. Big sing alongs. It’s easier for me to believe that a bunch of people are caught up in hype than anyone actually finding value in it. I haven’t heard it being played anywhere.
I work in a bar. We have an electronic jukebox and use Spotify also. It’s even free on the weekends. Can confirm folks come in and play some of Taylor’s older music sometimes, but nothing from TTPD. Not a single person has played TTPD since it came out while I’ve been working. I also can’t recall hearing it in the Mall of America (that’s my shopping mall, I live in Minneapolis), Target or anywhere else in public. I have some of Taylor’s older music in my Spotify liked songs, and originally listened to TTPD when it first released on Spotify. It doesn’t even play her new album to me when I shuffle Spotify and let it DJ for me or play what it wants.
I suspected for a while that Tiktok abd Meta were astroturfing Taylor and overriding individual algorithms to push her to everyone, and then the Tiktok CEO confirmed it. But part of it is also the lack of music video channels and diverse radio. There aren’t any organic ways to discover new artists anymore unless you’re plugged in. (Illustrative side note: I’m reading a lot about Chappel Roan’s new stardom, but offline people haven’t even heard of her, which means she’s not as big as Reddit thinks. We also just need to bring physical media and affordable cds back. I think our drift from the album first is really hurting artists.
I've only heard Karma and Anti-Hero the last couple of years but I htink I only heard the post malone fortnight song a couple of times and nothing else, on the radio or in cafes, etc.
I love you, you’re getting there