Speak Now Got A 430% Bump In Streams After Taylor Swift's Masters Letter
Clearly, Swifties were missing those original "Better Than Revenge" lyrics.
The re-released (Taylor’s Versions) may have been nice, but it’s clear Swifties had been craving the originals. After Taylor Swift announced that she had finally bought ownership over her first six albums on May 30, the streaming numbers on those records skyrocketed. But it was one album in particular that received the most massive spike in listeners, per Spotify’s numbers.
The Swiftie floodgates opened on Friday, May 30 after Swift’s revelation that she now owned all of her masters, a struggle she’s been vocally frustrated by for the the past six years. For superfans, the announcement meant one very important thing: For the first time in half a decade, it was safe to listen to some of their favorite albums without any guilt. As Swift has been re-recording new versions of her first several albums, her most loyal fans have sworn off listening to the original versions, refusing to give any revenue to Swift’s masters-holding rivals.
So after Swift confirmed she now has the rights to all of her work, her fans went straight to Spotify. According to data that the music service provided to The Hollywood Reporter, all six of Swift’s initial albums more than doubled in streams on May 30. But Speak Now got the biggest bump, with a whopping 430% rise globally.
The two albums that have not (yet) received the (Taylor’s Version) treatment had the next biggest spikes — Taylor Swift went up 220% in streams, with Reputation going up 175%. Fearless was next with a 160% increase, then Red with 160%, and finally 1989 had a 110% bump on the day of Swift’s announcement.
Of course, every Swiftie has their personal favorite among her early work, but there’s a solid reason why Speak Now may have been the album most superfans rushed to re-listen to. Swift’s third album got arguably the biggest lyric change in all her re-releases, with the singer swapping out the standout “she’s better known for the things she does on the mattress” lyric in “Better Than Revenge” on her new version.
The alteration proved controversial for longtime Swifties. But now, they can freely belt out the “mattress” lyric without guilt.
