Taylor Swift's New Selling Strategy

Taylor Swift's second surprise album of 2020, December's evermore, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Its lead single, "Willow" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, making Swift the only artist in history to attain a number one album and song debut at the same time twice. (The first time was for "Cardigan" and folklore in July 2020.) However, as far as album sales, it doesn't take much to dominate the charts in the streaming era. Swift has been a selling giant for her entire career. But does evermore point to the end of her reign, and the final acquiescence of the economic power of the album to streaming?

When Swift surprise-dropped folklore in July, it sold 800,000 units in the US during its first week. It tallied the same as Lover (2019), Swift's previous release. Lover marked the first time since 2010 that a Taylor Swift album did not move 1 million units in the US its first week. This could be explained by many things, most obviously the rise of streaming. However, Swift has done her best to combat this. She did not release 2017's reputation onto streaming services for 3 weeks, which enabled it to sell 1.2 million copies its first week. However, Swift is nothing if not a savvy businesswoman. She knows when the jig is up. Lover, folklore, and evermore were all released on streaming right away. They've all fallen short of the one million mark.

folklore and Lover both came close to one million. Swift released 8 deluxe editions of folklore (each available in vinyl and CD) and 4 deluxe editions of Lover. It seems that the more popular streaming becomes, the more deluxe editions Swift adds to increase sales. This strategy changed with evermore. The pivot could be seen as a genuine adjustment to the streaming era, or maybe Swift just recognized fans' teenage pockets only go so deep.

evermore's marketing strategy still relies on sales. (This is Taylor Swift we're talking about, after all.) Her team promoted a digital download of the album, which includes a digital lyric booklet with exclusive photos. However, all Swift fans know this is something that every CD comes with. Why not just wait to buy the CD, which most Swift fans do? However, there's a key element to Taylor Swift's fanbase: they care about how well her music does.

The digital download of evermore was the only way to purchase it during its first week. The CDs and vinyls only became available a week later. That way, loyal fans would download the album to increase first week numbers- and then do it again when the CD and vinyl become available. In the streaming era, Swift is no longer shooting for historic first week totals, which streaming inevitably curtails. Instead, she's looking for sustained sales. A headline after reputation's release pointed out a steep drop in sales after the first week. This could be attributed to the fans, who flocked to buy it upon its release. However, the general public, who accounted for Swift's sustained sales in the past, now stream.

The delayed release of the CD and vinyl of evermore may help its sales remain consistent. (Not to mention a boost from the holidays.) It looks like Swift is looking to attain every possible selling feat in the streaming era: first, massive debuts, now, consistent numbers. That might explain evermore's 329,000 first week total- a low for Swift. Her second album, Fearless, debuted with 560,000 its first week, and it was uphill from there. Still, evermore's 329k is a testament to her power as a selling artist, and the devotion of her fanbase. Miley Cyrus' Plastic Hearts only sold 60,000 units three weeks after its release. Swift's totals shows that there are probably plenty of people out there who did buy all 8 editions of folklore. I'm definitely not one of them.