Taylor Swift becomes first female artist to reach 100m monthly Spotify listeners
Taylor Swift has become the first female artist to reach 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify, the music streaming giant announced on Tuesday.
The official Spotify social media accounts wrote: “Queen behavior. On August 29, Taylor Swift became the first female artist in Spotify history to reach 100 million monthly listeners.”
Last month it was announced Swift had achieved more number one albums than any other woman.
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), released in July, was the third in her project to re-record her first six albums following music manager Scooter Braun’s sale of her early catalogue.
Queen behavior 👑 On August 29th, Taylor Swift became the first female artist in Spotify history to reach 100 million monthly listeners. pic.twitter.com/p7smvexszE
— Spotify (@Spotify) August 29, 2023
It debuted at number one in the US on the Billboard 200, becoming her 12th album to reach the top spot while it also claimed Swift her 10th number one in the UK.
Speak Now peaked at number six when it was originally released in 2010, but the re-release outsold the rest of the top 10 combined, according to the Official Charts Company.
During the final leg of her US Eras Tour at the SoFi Stadium, in California, Swift also announced her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) project would be released in October, leaving fans in a frenzy.
As the show neared its end, the star thanked fans for their ongoing support as she continues with the ambitious task of reclaiming her entire back catalogue.
She shared: “The last time I was pleasantly surprised by what you guys had done was when I announced that I was going to be re-recording (my albums).
“The way you embraced that and the way you have celebrated that and really decided that it was your fight too and you were 100% behind me – it was so generous of you.
Surprise!! 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is on its way to you 🔜! The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th. To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done… pic.twitter.com/JFYOWhBxhj
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 10, 2023
“So here we are tonight on the last night of the US leg of The Eras Tour in the eighth month of the year on the ninth day…”
The screens behind her then showed the album cover for 1989 (Taylor’s Version), which will be available from October 27.
1989 is Swift’s fifth studio album, and features hit songs including Blank Space, Bad Blood and Shake It Off.
The singer has been working on rerecording her entire back catalogue to regain control of her master recordings.
Her first six albums’ master recordings were acquired by famed talent manager Scooter Braun when he bought Swift’s former label. Since then, her masters have changed hands, with investment firm Shamrock Capital taking over.
Her deal with Universal Music’s Republic Records, which she signed in 2018, is believed to give her control of her master recordings but she is still determined the take back ownership of her music by creating new versions of her songs.