That’s how she got to be a billionaire.
Obviously Taylor Swift has one of the most hardcore fan bases of any artist out there. Swifties hang on to every word the pop superstar says, dissecting everything she does searching for easter eggs and buying pretty much anything and everything she puts out.
It’s no surprise that Spotify crashed at midnight on October 3 when Taylor released her latest album, The Life Of A Showgirl, even after many Swifties had already bought physical copies of the album.
And when I say “copies,” I mean MANY copies.
As of right now, Taylor has dropped over 34 variants of the album. There’s obviously the OG, but before the project even come out she had already released the Sweat and Vanilla Perfume Portofino Orange Glitter variant on vinyl, CD and cassette, the It’s Beautiful Edition Limited Release Deluxe CD, the It’s Rapturous Edition Limited Release Deluxe CD, the It’s Frightening Edition Limited Release Deluxe CD, the Sweat and Vanilla Perfume Edition Limited Release Deluxe, the Shiny Bug Edition vinyl in two different colors (wintergreen & onyx marbled, and violet shimmered marbled, in case you were wondering), the Baby, That’s Show Business Edition vinyl in two colors, two versions of the Tiny Bubbles in Champagne Edition, three Target exclusive CD variants, the Target exclusive Crowd Is Your King Edition Summertime Spritz Pink Shimmer vinyl, four different hand-signed variants each with different photos, and two Spotify bundles featuring a CD and either a sweater or a cardigan.
For those keeping track, that’s TWENTY THREE versions of the same album that fans could buy before it was even released.
All told, Taylor has already released 34 different versions of The Life Of A Showgirl, including 8 vinyl variants, 18 CDs, one cassette, and seven download-only variants.
And at least one Swiftie has spent more than $800 buying all of them up.
20-year old Aiden Watson of California posted a TikTok showing off his collection of the new album, which includes every single vinyl and CD variant for a total of 26 copies of the same album.
@aidenwatson13 which ones did you guys get?? #taylorswift #TSTheLifeOfAShowgirl #swiftie #vinyl
Even more surprisingly though, he seems perfectly happy with his decision to drop nearly a grand on the album, despite admitting during an interview with People that he doesn’t listen to the physical copies that he buys:
“All my friends make fun of me because I don’t actually play any of the music I buy. I use a lot of my vinyls as wall art. Personally, I’d rather spend $30 on a vinyl to hang on my wall than $30 on an art piece from Target.
I 100% look at it as a business investment. The content I make on social media is mostly Taylor-related. Most people think it’s absurd to own this many copies of the same album — and they’re not wrong, lol — but I knew I’d make content of me buying the variants, unboxing them and showing them off. And I must say, it’s been quite a fruitful investment.”
Hey, whatever floats your boat.
The whole thing reminds me of Garth Brooks dropping 100 different box sets containing largely the same albums. It’s a way to move physical product at a time when the vast majority of music is consumed digitally. And for some artists, it’s clearly working – especially when they can get fans to buy 26 versions of the same album.
