Few artists will ever reach the sales numbers that Taylor Swift has racked up over the course of her career — and even fewer will ever do it two times over.
What started as a passion project to reclaim her master recordings is now a cultural phenomenon. Supported symbiotically by her blockbuster Eras Tour — which reportedly made the pop star a billionaire in October 2023 — the “Taylor’s Version” re-recording project both caters to the nostalgia of O.G. Swifties while roping in new ones, breathing a second commercial life into albums that were already wildly successful upon their original releases between 2006 and 2017.
Kicking off in April 2021 with the release of Fearless (Taylor’s Version), Swift’s years-long project has raked in millions in sales and billions in streams, while also affecting the value out of the original editions of her first six albums. The undertaking has been so successful, in fact, that major labels are actively working to avoid becoming the next “Big Machine,” with Billboard reporting that outlets like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have started overhauling contracts for new signees and demanding that artists wait an unprecedented 10, 15 or even 30 years to re-record releases after departing their record companies.
Part of Swift’s secret formula for scoring so big with each Taylor’s Version is her inclusion of “From The Vault” tracks, or songs that she initially wrote for each album but ultimately left off of their final track lists. These previously unreleased time-capsule songs have given the superstar a second chance at topping the charts, as well as more opportunities to collaborate with other artists, be it Phoebe Bridgers on Red (Taylor’s Version)‘s “Nothing New,” Paramore’s Hayley Williams on Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)‘s “Castles Crumbling” or a litany of country stars on Fearless.
Keep reading to see the U.S. first-week traditional album sales, according to data provider Luminate, of every “Taylor’s Version” re-record (so far), plus how they compare to their original counterparts below:
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‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’
Image Credit: John Shearer/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Taylor’s Version release year: 2021
First-week sales: 179,000
Original release year: 2008
Original first-week sales: 592,000
To read more about Fearless (Taylor’s Version)‘s first-week sales, click here.
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‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’
Image Credit: Courtesy Photo Taylor’s Version release year: 2021
First-week sales: 369,000
Original release year: 2012
Original first-week sales: 1.208 million
To read more about Red (Taylor’s Version)‘s first-week sales, click here.
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‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’
Image Credit: Beth Garrabrant Taylor’s Version release year: 2023
First-week sales: 507,000
Original release year: 2010
Original first-week sales: 1.047 million
To read more about Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)‘s first-week sales, click here.
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‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’
Image Credit: Beth Garrabrant Taylor’s Version release year: 2023
First-week sales: 1.359 million
Original release year: 2014
Original first-week sales: 1.287 million
To read more about 1989 (Taylor’s Version)‘s first-week sales, click here.