Taylor Swift's Spotify Crown Is Slipping

Introduction

Everybody at McCall is familiar with the name Taylor Swift. She is the artist behind beloved pop hits like Blank Space, Cruel Summer, and Anti Hero. She is also known for her tremendously large fanbase. In recent years, Taylor has embarked on an epic concert tour, The Eras Tour, where she plays songs from all of her albums. The tour has created over a billion dollars of revenue. She is a beloved musician and public figure. Among middle schoolers like McCall students, she used to be the world's most popular artist. She even had the #1 world ranking on spotify, with over 100 million listeners. Recently, however, her crown has been slipping.

The Setup

In April of 2024, Taylor released a new album, titled The Tortured Poets Department. It was accompanied by The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. Just like its title, TTPD is emotional and long. Finishing up at a running time of over two hours, this project was received well by many "Swifties". They thought that it was a beautiful album. Not everyone felt that way, however. Certain Swifties found it boring. Critics also were not very impressed by it. The New York Times joked in the title of their review of it that, "Taylor Swift could Use an Editor." In the end, the album still filled up Spotify's charts, and Taylor sat comfortably at her #1 position. The Weeknd, who had previously briefly been ranked there, was now #2. 

After a month or so, the buzz about her new album died down. The world waited as viral headlines continued to erupt over interesting moments at her tour, and she progressed in her relationship with football player Travis Kelce. Over time, though, TTPD lost center focus. It is now October, and as of October 16th, 2024, only 2 out of 5 of her most popular songs were from The Tortured Poets Department. Notably, neither of the songs were the most popular. It seems that this big album had somewhat of a flop.

The Situation

Now, there has been a dramatic shift in her popularity. According to data collected from Spotify itself on October 16th, 2024, Taylor was ranked #6 in the world. That is obviously still an extraordinarily high rating. However, she was still doing worse than normal. The singer-songwriter has lost over 10 million listeners! Ahead of her in the rankings include famous artists and bands like The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, and Coldplay. 

But... why?

The risk is always great when producing a "sad girl" album. Although not every song on the album was sad, the cover was in black and white. New things are not new forever, and overall depressing album cannot stay exciting for long. Many listeners commented that the whole album sounded the same. Even if it varied melodically, the tone was repetitive: introspective and self-pitying. Favorites of of the album were normally the songs where Taylor switched it up. If a song was happy, angry, or had a faster pace, it typically had more listens. The fact is, upbeat songs are more enjoyable! (Well, obviously.) Simply, not everyone wants to listen to a sad album, especially not for long.

There is also a very real possibility that at this point, Taylor Swift has been overexposed. (A little bit like TTPD, which people got tired of listening to.) Last year, as we neared the beginning of summer, many female McCall students admitted that they used to listen to Taylor Swift. After a while, however, things changed. Many said they simply moved on from her. For how long can anybody focus so deeply on one person? Another popular reason that students stopped listening to her was because being a Swifty became a "trend". Despite the fact that trends like Uggs and Lululemon clothing have survived well, this trend of being a Swifty may not for long. 

We can easily compare the descent of Taylor Swift's fanbase to the journey of Stanleys. These insulated water bottles were unbelievably popular for the majority of last year. However, once almost everybody became a Stanley owner, their popularity began to fade. Nobody wanted to be "A Stanley Person." Everybody shifted their attention to something that was the same type of product (a water bottle), but a different brand and style: The Owala. Now, some people do not want to be "A Swifty." They are listening to different pop artists more frequently. 

Conclusion

It is deeply upsetting that somebody's musical art is being rejected because it mainstream. Anybody who listened to the Tortured Poets Department can confirm that it is a very personal album. Nevertheless, it seems that Taylor Swift's momentum couldn't last forever.

Sources:

Taylor Swift could Use an Editor

How much does Taylor Swift earn from each show?