It was one of the most ambitious musical endeavors ever, as well as one of the most implacable and successful: Taylor Swift’s decision to re-record her back catalog after Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired the rights to her first six albums when it purchased Swift’s old label, Big Machine.
Swift began teasing this project just months after the Ithaca/Big Machine deal closed in 2019, but it wasn’t until 2021 that she officially launched the Taylor’s Version campaign. She went on to drop re-recorded versions of four albums, starting with Fearless and Red, followed by Speak Now and 1989. Along with completely redoing the original albums, Swift also shared new versions of previously unreleased tunes, most notably a 10-minute version of her masterpiece, “All Too Well.”
The logic behind the Taylor’s Version campaign was bitingly to-the-point: The re-records would allow her to reclaim some control over her music, while it would also ostensibly dilute the value of the original recordings. Swift’s fans, devoted as ever, greeted each release with characteristic enthusiasm, and all four Taylor’s Version albums topped the Billboard 200 albums chart.
On Friday, May 30, Swift announced that she’d finally bought back the rights to her first six albums from Shamrock Holdings (which acquired the catalog from Ithaca in 2020). Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Swift wrote in a letter she was able to complete purchase thanks to the massive success of the Eras Tour and the “passionate support” her fans showed the re-records.
By the numbers, the success of the Taylor’s Version records is remarkable. According to data from Luminate, all four albums have garnered at least two billion on-demand streams in the United States since their release, through May 22. Fearless and Speak Now accumulated 2.7 billion and 2.1 billion streams, respectively; Red has racked up 7.5 billion streams; and 1989 has led all four albums with an astonishing 8.2 billion streams.
Editor’s picks
Each re-release spawned several successful singles as well, with new versions of old hits like “Love Story,” “Wildest Dreams,” “Style,” and “State of Grace” cracking the Top 20 again. While none of those re-recorded songs charted quite as high as the originals (“Love Story” peaked at Number Four, while the TV reached Number 11, for instance), Swift’s re-record of her Speak Now favorite “Enchanted” peaked way higher on the Hot 100 (Number 19) than its original ever did (Number 75).
Unsurprisingly, where Swift saw the most success in terms of singles was the “From the Vault” tracks. Her 10-minute version of “All Too Well” from Red (Taylor’s Version) went to Number One on the Hot 100, becoming the longest chart-topper in history to boot. Meanwhile, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) spawned the vault hit “I Can See You,” which reached Number 5, while 1989 (Taylor’s Version) featured several Top 10 hits: “Is It Over Now?” (which also hit Number One), “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Suburban Legends,” and “Slut!”
Many of Swift’s vault collaborations did well, too. “I Bet You Think About Me” with Chris Stapleton reached Number 22; “You All Over Me” with Maren Morris hit Number 51; and “Nothing New” with Phoebe Bridgers peaked at Number 43.
Still, the reality of Swift’s massive popularity and the tremendous impact of those first six albums, meant it would be difficult for any re-record to outright match, or surpass, the success of the original records. The one that definitely achieved this feat was 1989, with Taylor’s Version selling more than 1.3 million copies during its first week, just surpassing the 1.28 million the original sold during its opening week. (Ironically, the announcement of the 1989 re-record caused streams of the original album to double, with fans seeking out the LP in anticipation.)
Related Content
But within the context of the Taylor’s Version project, the four re-releases almost certainly achieved their primary objectives: Entertain fans and keep them more engaged than they already were during a four-year span during which Swift also dropped two totally new albums — Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department — and toured the world. And, most importantly, the drew listeners away from the original recordings she did not own.
Trending Stories
Data from Luminate shows that the Taylor’s Version records were a whopping success in this regard. In the period between each TV album release and May 22, only one original album outperformed the re-record: Fearless, which racked up a surprisingly impressive four billion streams compared to the 2.7 for the Taylor’s Version. Meanwhile, the original Speak Now was streamed two billion times, just below the Taylor’s Version tally of 2.1 billion.
As for Red and 1989, the TVs were substantially more successful than the originals. After Red (Taylor’s Version) arrived in late 2021, it picked up 7.5 billion streams while the original earned just 3.7 billion. And following the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) in October 2023, it garnered 8.2 billion streams while the original picked up a comparatively measly three billion.
