The Taylor Swift numbers game would blow the minds of mathematicians.
This is a study of how a naturally occurring storyteller shaped a multi-million dollar business from her chemistry with music and lyrics, a relentless business acumen and assisted by an army of tens of millions of dedicated fans whose main mission is to make this the greatest pop star on the planet.
The surprise release of his eighth studio album Folklore On July 24, just 4 hours after the 30-year-old announced her existence to her 200 million-plus social media followers, she rewrote charts and streamed recordings around the world.
Spotify reported that it set a new record for female artist’s Day 1 album streams with 80.6 million streams.
Folklore was “the most released pop album on Apple Music in 24 hours” with 35.47 million plays.
In one week, the record had amassed more than half a billion flows, with Cardigan, Exile, starring indie rock hero Bon Iver, 1, The last great American dynasty and My Richochet tears the most played of the 16 songs on the album.
Swift became the first artist to debut at No. 1 with an album and single that same week in the United States, with Cardigan claiming the top of the Hot 100 and Folklore landing atop the Billboard 200.
She has achieved this feat twice in Australia, the first time in 2014 with 1989 and Empty space.
In Australia, acoustic music, sparse musical and lyrical Folklore became her sixth No.1 on the ARIA charts, Cardigan his sixth single topped the charts.
The numbers get truly breathtaking when you consider that they are entirely generated and driven by his fans.
Folklore was conceived and recorded in the coronavirus lockdown and launched into the world without the months-long promotional teasing that typically precedes a new Taylor Swift album.
Even her label didn’t know their superstar artist had a boxed record until she told the world.
“Most of the things I planned for this summer didn’t happen, but there is something I didn’t plan for DID to happen,” Swift said on Instagram.
“And this stuff is my 8th studio album, folklore. Surprise.”
The Swifties immediately mobilized online.
This army of fans has grown exponentially in the last 13 years of his career as the internet and social media have overtaken the power of the traditional gatekeepers of the music industry and radio and television stations to create pop superstars.
They just grew up with her, shared her broken hearts and growing pains, disappointments and victories.
Their ranks have been replenished with each new record and stadium tour, peaking with 1989 six years ago, which achieved sales of over 10 million copies worldwide.
And that matters – all of Swift’s previous records again sell buckets in Folklore wake.
The ranks of the Swifties are dominated by girls and young women, but also include prominent pieces from mothers and daughters, the LGBTQI community, peers such as Selena Gomez and Katy Perry, and older pop music aficionados who appreciate his art of writing songs.
While some have suggested Folklore, which includes 11 songs co-written and co-produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner and the duet with Bon Iver, will bring a raft of the independent music tribe into the fandom, which is more wishful thinking from the artist and his loyal followers as a quantifiable reality.
Yet everyone, fan or critic, is invested in Folklore’s mysteries – the Teenage love triangle trilogy of songs, the famous socialite who once owned the Swift mansion in Rhode Island and who inspired The last great American dynasty and the identity of unknown co-author William Bowery, credited on two songs. Could this be actor Joe Alwyn’s boyfriend?
Swift cultivated and maintained her fandom’s dedication with an intimacy atypical for a prominent pop star.
She invites them to her house to listen to parties and bakes them cookies and cakes.
She pays medical bills and school fees.
She sends them homemade gifts and exclusive products.
She retweets worshipful posts with gratitude.
Her first signing sessions would last for hours and her backstage meeting and greetings aren’t the usual $ 1,000, more for a three-second interaction and a photo scam – she kisses, chats and smiles.
And she’s the queen of Easter egg engagement, notes, videos, and lyrics peppered with clues and secret messages to reveal the stories behind her songs.
“It’s honestly one of the most amazing feelings to know that there is this group of people out there who support me and they always show up,” Swift said in 2012.
“I try to find ways all the time to thank them for that.”
In turn, the Swifties are flexing their muscles online to play the charts.
Fans will stream songs even while they sleep to bolster his stats and not buy a CD or vinyl edition of a new release, but all of them.
#ProudOfTaylor started to follow the trend when Billboard results revealed her historic double No. 1s, important as she owns all the rights to this new music after losing the battle for control of early work to Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande manager Braun scooter.
“Cardigan by Taylor Swift is not just a song. it’s a lifestyle, a reason to breathe, an escape from this cruel world full of thieves, ”wrote one fan.
“It’s art, the first gift you open at Christmas, a hug from a loved one, that’s all you ever wanted, that’s all you need.”
But the numbers game Folklore not everything was a reason to rejoice.
The Swifties are aiming to achieve a rating of 90.0 or higher for the album on review aggregation site Metacritic.
A rather haphazard and insignificant goal, but a battalion of his army of fans had their hearts tied.
While the stylistic change of Folklore won worldwide fame – the lion’s share of reviews was unprecedented five stars and A ratings – when Pitchfork review Jillian Mapes gave A folklore rave review and score of 8.0, this compromised their Metacritic goal.
It brought the average down to 88 and they got mean.
The uncontrollable and unwarranted outrage included issuing death threats to Mape, the doxation of his personal details, phone calls to his home.
They even flooded Twitter with a hexagon written in runes, which was translated in part on the platform as saying, “Whoever comes after the Queen of Darkness will die alone and burn forever.”
Other fans called them out on the harassment and pointed out the positives of the review.
Yet there will always be a cohort of Swifties who remain determined to find the next target to threaten with their pitchforks on social media.
Perhaps Folklore The greatest success as a true surprise record is that it rekindled the mystery of pop music at a time when every move is disappointingly predictable and coldly calculated.
Everyone wonders what Taylor will do next.
Originally posted under the title How Taylor Swift’s Bond With Fans Makes Her One Of A Kind