Taylor Swift’s fans have always been staunch supporters of her Taylor’s Version project — but apparently they’re also happy they can stream the original Speak Now again.
After Swift, 35, announced last week that she bought back her masters, streams of her original albums more than doubled on Friday, May 30, according to Spotify data shared with The Hollywood Reporter. The streaming service didn’t share specific numbers, only percentage changes, but noted the change calculated compared to average daily streams of the old albums from April 1 through May 29.
The 2010 version of Speak Now saw the highest increase, with a 430 percent bump in global streams. Swift’s self-titled 2006 debut came in second with a 220 percent increase, while 2017’s Reputation followed in third with a 175 percent jump. The original versions of the other three albums that were rerecorded got boosts as well: 2008’s Fearless increased by 160 percent, 2012’s Red climbed 150 percent and 2014’s 1989 jumped 110 percent. Swift’s overall streams, meanwhile, saw an increase of 40 percent.
Devoted Swifties have avoided listening to the original versions of the pop star’s albums since Scooter Braun bought her former record label, Big Machine, in 2019. Braun, 43, then sold Swift’s music to private equity firm Shamrock Capital, which owned her masters until she bought them back last week. (Braun and Shamrock only owned the first six albums, as Swift signed with Republic Records for 2019’s Lover and the releases that followed.)
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Before Swift reacquired her music, she had embarked on a massive project to rerecord her first six albums and finished four of them: Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989. Each Taylor’s Version edition included new versions of all the original tracks plus additional unheard “From the Vault” songs.
While Swifties have been eagerly awaiting the Taylor’s Version editions of her self-titled debut and Reputation, the Grammy winner revealed on Friday that she might not release either of them. Swift said she has finished rerecording all of her debut but admitted she’s made very little progress on Reputation, which some fans thought would be announced at the American Music Awards last month.
“Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it,” Swift wrote in a letter shared via her website. “The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposefully misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief.”
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She added, “To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in those first six that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music or photos or videos. So, I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for unreleased vault tracks from that album to hatch.”
Her rerecorded debut album, however, might still see the light of day. “I really love how that sounds now,” she told fans. “Those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But, if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
While rumors circulated that Swift paid $1 billion to buy back her music, Billboard reported that the figure was closer to $360 million. Swift confirmed in her letter that she was able to make the purchase using profits from her record-breaking Eras Tour.
