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It's unbelievable how you keep up this narrative despite all the numbers and statistics being thrown to your face. It's getting tiring and boring, so quit living in some delusional bubble and go to the real world
At the peak of the vocal trinity's popularity it was also people below 35 who showed most interest in her music, and the 35+ year olds of the time were stuck with having nostalgic feelings about the music they had 20 years before that.
Hi Clock', for me I'd say it's more the change in how music is broadcast or what is broadcast. In the 80s and 90s (in the UK) you would have TV chart shows like Top of the pops, the Chart show etc where you could hear everything in the singles chart, every week, which was an easy way to keep abreast of current hits.
The thing is though, in the last 15 years or since Taylor emerged, I'm well aware of many songs by the likes of Sheeran, Adele, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry etc but somehow Taylor tracks have never really registered with me. They all seemed to have hits that you couldn't escape, but somehow Taylors have for the most part completely passed me by.
- At 106, Taylor Swift has the 2nd most US Hot 100 Top 40 hits ever, she is number one among female artists.
- At 41, Taylor Swift has the 2nd most US Hot 100 Top 10 hits ever, she is number one among female artists.
Who are number 1s here?
Ok, after this comment, the QQ streams got adjusted to 9.7 billions today. It increased her total streaming units, which resulted in overall increase in units. Thanks for looking into that
So, after I pointed out about the decrease of QQ(china) streams, now it's adjusted back to 9.7 billions from 3.3 billions.It resulted in the overall increase in units. So, thank you for looking into that.
Hey, Thank you for the update. I was wondering... Before this update, Taylor had 350000 Physical Singles units sold. Now after the update, they are at 320000. What happened to the 30000 units?
Would you say pop music in general is taken more seriously now than it was back in the 80s and 90s? TBH, I think the "poptimism" movement really began with MJ and Madonna. They made albums that were taken seriously both as entertainment and artistic statements. I think it took decades to really see the full fruition of the movement and we see it in the likes of Lady Gaga, Taylor, Sheeran, etc. These artists are taken seriously by the general public in a way they maybe would not have been in the 60s or 70s (where rock was taken more seriously, artistically speaking). Sorry if this sounds like rambling, I could be talking out of my ass here lol.
I know quite a few of her tracks by title, like those two but I wouldn't know them if I heard them, her only track I know is and I'm not even sure of the title, but it's something like We are never getting back together.
Which is valid for your experience, but you come here and perpetuate this as the 'norm' when all factual evidence points to your experience being not the norm at this point. The reality is the direct comparisons of Taylor Swift and the likes of Ed Sheeran and Adele (both from Europe), and Katy Perry, Rihanna and Gaga (all pop acts from the get go) is one you have to view with context of the situation. I'm going to assume you're European as thats what this entire convo has been about: Taylor in Europe.
Taylor's first four albums were country, a sound that has never resonated or easily broken into Europe, which her label knew that and therefore didn't try to promote it in to the extent most artists do, which is evident. By the 5th album most modern acts are on their way out, yet Taylor has emerged as one of the biggest European stars currently, and her 10th project has been her most popular in Europe yet. By the time she was starting to crossover in Europe, she dropped from streaming, and you Europe was one of the fastest places to jump onto streaming, which severely hampered European access to Taylor's music. So then when reputation and Lover get released, is it really surprising that European radio didn't pick them up in the way they did other MPG hits given the lengthy hiatus and the fact she wasn't even established like many of her peers in Europe. So then doesn't it really make Midnight's European run all the more impressive?
So no, it's not really that surprising that you were hearing Rolling in the Deep or Thinking out Loud over Mine or Back to December, and it shouldn't be to you either.
How do you define pop though. I mean The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Marvin Gaye, Supremes, Stevie Wonder etc in the 60s were seen as pop, sure they had their leanings into r n b, soul, rock n roll, blues etc but they were all essentially aiming to top the pop charts. The Beatles and The Stones were also seen as heartthrobs, just like the boy bands of later years.
Then in the 70s, in the UK, the biggest pop scene was probably the Glam era, which was borderline hard rock, with acts like Slade, Trex and especially The Sweet all making heavish music. Although admittedly, not many of these acts managed to have great album careers.
Carole King would be another example of critically acclaimed pop music, with an album like Tapestry in 1971.
I think in many ways pop was loved from the off but somewhere mid to late 60s, the pretentions of critics began to create a sort of hierarchy of genres, styles, artists, formats etc and unfortunately this became embedded in society. I'm not sure if it's different these days as I seldom read critical reviews of music, certainly not opinion based stuff and haven't for numerous years. I critique music by hearing it, not by reading about it lol
