The Tortured Poets Department

Taylor Swift announced her eleventh studio album at the 66th Grammy Awards in February 2024, right after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights. She had been working on it since 2022, recording at studios across three countries, Conway Recording in Hollywood, Electric Lady in New York, Esplanade in New Orleans, Long Pond in the Hudson Valley, Miloco in London, and Rue Boyer A in Paris. The standard edition dropped on April 19, 2024, with 16 tracks running 65 minutes. But two hours later, Swift surprise-released The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, a double album adding 15 more songs for a total of 31.

Lyrically, the album is a raw, confessional dive into grief, heartbreak, and anger, wrapped in dark wit. Swift's production team included Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, and Patrik Berger, and the sound blends synth-pop, chamber pop, and folk-pop. The lead single Fortnight features Post Malone, and Florence + the Machine appear on Florida!!!. Physical copies included a poem by Stevie Nicks. The cover art, a stark black-and-white photo by Beth Garrabrant, sets the tone for an album that feels both intimate and expansive.

Commercially, it was a phenomenon. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, Swift's 14th album to do so, and sold over a million copies in its first week, making her the only artist with seven albums achieving that in the modern era. In the UK, it had the biggest sales week by any artist in seven years and the largest vinyl sales week since 1994. It spent 11 weeks atop the UK albums chart. In Canada, it broke the record for highest vinyl sales week ever. In Australia, Swift set records for most simultaneous entries in the top 10, top 50, and top 100 of the singles chart. New Zealand saw the first album to chart nine songs in the top 10 of its singles chart. [edit]