I want to make a "The Life Of A Showgirl: Pay For Attorney Fees" limited variant edition with a version of George Harrison's "Sue Me, Sue You Blues" as a bonus track...but I won't.

Speaking of possible unintentional interpolation, I don't know if it's a weird coincidence or not but singer Charlie Puth (who should really be a bigger artist) explains what is and isn't legal cribbing of existing music in this informative two minute video

She has fully smashed Adele’s record in first week sales. I’m glad she can rest easy knowing that she’s number one in the entire world, again.

This is her first album in a long time that I didn't buy the day it came out. I didn't even feel compelled to listen to it until today (via Amazon Music Unlimited). What I heard was pretty good, but I'm not particularly compelled to own it at this time.

Excellent

I've kind of moved on from music ownership. I don't even own a copy of folklore, which is my favorite album of the decade.
Which kind of makes her owning the single-week sales record all the more remarkable, and why I don't get my panties in a bunch like some here about all the variants sold -- you can enjoy her music as much as you want without making any purchases.

my own issue with this is that this isn’t actually true. At least not if you’re enough of a fan to want to legally hear the extra songs or extra versions of songs on any given release. Those tracks aren’t typically on the streaming services, and are usually locked behind a deluxe edition of an album. But in this case, they’re split among 4 different deluxe editions, all with different bonus tracks. The bonus tracks can’t usually be bought separately, so that means buying 4 versions of an album (even all digitally!) just to get all 8 songs. Until 4 more variants are announced with another set of 8 new versions.
It’s all well and fine that you and I don’t care enough to make all of those purchases, but those variants exist for the strict purpose of padding the numbers. And that’s just counting the US-only variants, too.

Contrast that with Adele’s US-only variants of 25 (the 2015 album Taylor has now outsold):
2 x vinyl (identical but different pressing plants)
1 x CD
1 x deluxe CD
plus standard digital/streaming options, though I recall she actively withheld one or more albums from streaming originally, which is also a key point.
30 had a few more variants, but bonus tracks weren’t split among them.

It becomes quite obvious what’s going on. There’s no obligation to buy any of it, which is fantastic, but that doesn’t mean it should all be hand waved away, either.
edit to add: there are a handful of other artists making these same decisions, and they all deserve ire for it. Though in most cases the variants are more of a ‘pick your favorite colorway or cover’ where the intent is to buy one, because the music on every version is identical, minus true Deluxe editions, naturally.

As for music ownership, I’ve worked my way back into it for the most part. I still have a streaming sub to check stuff out, but I’m buying CDs and albums on Bandcamp when possible. Bandcamp is great because it’s rarely if ever overpriced for a digital copy, and that digital copy is CD quality or better without paying a premium or getting surprised by a new version less than a week after it comes out.

one more quick edit. Most people aren’t outright buying albums anymore, or if they do, they buy one copy. But there’s no doubt that there are whales (actual term used by marketing gurus) that help to make up for that. This is just a few of them:

i think my fav thus far is Eldest Daughter. i don't think this album represents her best pop stuff, but it's certainly not bad at all and puts other pop musicians to shame.

TLoaS sold juuuuuust over 4M units opening weekend. Or so they say.

X - Formerly Twitter

Congrats! We all believed you could do it, babes!

It better not be a new vinyl or CD variant!

Last week she was on NBC, probably because the album was released with Universal Music. I wonder if an exclusive announcement on ABC means something happening with Disney+.

That would be the best guess. Hopefully announcing the tour doc. More likely TLoaS Release Party on Hulu?

I have wondered how inflated her sales numbers are by the hardcore Swifties who feel compelled to buy each and every variant. No saying she doesn’t have a lot of fans but if a good chunk are buying all the variants that does definitely add up.

Unfortunately its like this for every music artists. All the variants. It runs their sales numbers. Im one of the fools who buys as much as i can of bands i like. I have 26 versions of the new Ghost album, and i hate the album. It came out in April, and they are still releasing variants of it. I enjoy collecting, and the artist I like dont get anything from streaming so I dont have an issue buying the stuff.

Her on the other hand, yeah she sold alot but they made so much more that it will be clogging the shelves up like that stupid Adele album stores cant get rid of on clearance. They make so many of each version, they are not gonna be worth anything down the road. In 20 years Swift stuff is gonna be everywhere at flea markets and antique malls.

I cured myself of this impulse a while back.

I just don't need multiple copies of albums anymore. I already have fuck-ton of vinyl as it is and don't need a dozen copies of the same album clogging up my shelves just because it has aqua-colored vinyl with a black swirl. And if I still have a mint condition pressing from the 1980s, I'll just keep that one and won't buy a reissue. The old versions usually sound better and have clearer artwork jacket, too.

I look at that photocollage above, and see those stacks of albums three feet high (presumably those boxes all contain variant's of Showgirl) and just shake my head...

A lot of the variants aren’t even physical media. Those limited time digital drops (usually four albums at a time) with a new track or now “voice memos” are what is probably juicing the figures more than the 10th vinyl. They are easier for fans to buy and cheaper too. They can get a vinyl with shipping or two digital albums for about the same price. I have to believe that Adele sold more physical units but the digital is what put Swift over the top.

It is the tour documentary! Plus a second concert film!

Awesome... will be watching all of it.

I see pentagrams!

Let the Illuminati theories commence!

For those of you who, like me, thought "Keep it 💯 " was a cringe lyric in The Fate of Ophelia, I didn't realize it's a reference to Travis Kelce being #87 and Taylor's favorite number being 13. When I found out that was the significance, I was much better with it.
At the Chiefs game last night, she wore a 13 jersey.

13 is an Illuminati number.

Just sayin'...

The new explanation (13+87) is even more cringe-worthy, honestly…
That is, unless the couple becomes full blown numerologists, at which point it will be awesome because of how entertaining that arc era will be.

I don't have any comment on Taylor Swift, but I did want to comment on this. If you're a big lover of music and want to make a conscious effort to support the artists you listen to, this is the way to do it. The vast majority of musicians make almost nothing from having their music on streaming services (massive pop stars like Taylor Swift notwithstanding), but they get a pretty good share of digital sales on Bandcamp and of physical releases.

If you're a relatively casual music fan who just wants the opportunity to listen to a bunch of different music or who mainly just listens to mainstream music, streaming is great for that and there's absolutely nothing wrong with just doing that.

Personally, I'm happy to pay ~$10/month for a streaming service to be able to listen to background music I'd never buy and also to check out albums before I spend money to own them. But when there's an album I truly love, I'll buy it on the first of the following sources that's available: vinyl, digital from Bandcamp, or digital elsewhere. If there are multiple variants available, I only buy one.