Taylor Swift just pulled off one of the biggest power moves in music history.
The pop icon has officially bought back the rights to her master recordings in a landmark $360 million deal, and fans are showing up in full force to celebrate.
The biggest shock? Her 2017 album Reputation has stormed back into the Billboard 200’s Top 5, years after its original release. According to music data tracker Luminate, the album saw a jaw-dropping 1,184% spike in sales in just one week. Most of that surge is from streaming, with Reputation racking up 34.75 million on-demand streams, a 125% increase.
Swift confirmed the news via a heartfelt message on her official website. “I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow,” she wrote. “A flashback sequence of all the time I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell this news.”
She continued, “I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now. I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found that this is really happening.”
Swift now owns everything, her master recordings, music videos, concert films, unreleased tracks, even the album art and photography. She described the win as owning “the memories, the magic, the madness, every single era, my entire life’s work.”
This deal follows a years-long battle for control over her own music. In 2019, music mogul Scooter Braun acquired the masters of her first six albums, Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, and Reputation, as part of a $300 million deal. Taylor criticized the sale publicly, stating she was never given a chance to buy them herself. The rights were eventually sold to Shamrock Capital, further complicating her path to ownership.
Not one to back down, she signed a new record deal with Universal Music Group and Republic Records in 2018. That gave her the green light to start re-recording her first six albums, Taylor’s Versions that would belong entirely to her.
Now, with this game-changing acquisition, she no longer has to re-record Reputation. The original versions are hers again, and Swifties have been quick to show their support with millions of streams and sales.
The impact is clear: Taylor Swift buying back her masters isn’t just a win for her, it’s a major moment for artists everywhere fighting for ownership in an industry that rarely gives them that kind of power.
Mia Brooks dives deep into the beats and rhythms of the music industry, covering everything from chart-topping albums to underground artists. With a passion for discovering new talent and exploring the stories behind the songs, Mia keeps readers updated on all things music.
