Taylor Swift's album 'Midnights': Facts and figures about her 10th album
It was a huge hit with fans
Taylor Swift fans rejoiced when 'Midnights' was released on 21st October 2022 - after a whole lot of teasing! The album, which is Taylor's 10th, debuted atop the UK charts and was certified Platinum within no time... So it's safe to say it went down pretty well.
As she continues to tour her 'Eras Tour' around the world, why not get to know the 'Midnights' era a little better? Find out everything you need to know about the record below...
What record did Taylor Swift break with 'Midnights'?
Less than two weeks after the record came out, the singer's success was cemented in history as she became the first artist ever to take over the Top 10 in the Billboard Hot 100. She retweeted Billboard's tweet confirming the exciting news, telling her fans: '10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES.'
Taylor opens up about the making of 'Midnights'
At the time of its release, she took to Instagram to speak about her new music. Thanking the people that helped to make the album and explaining how it came about, she wrote: 'Midnights is a wild ride of an album and I couldn’t be happier that my co pilot on this adventure was @jackantonoff.
'He’s my friend for life (presumptuous I know but I stand by it) and we’ve been making music together for nearly a decade HOWEVER… this is our first album we’ve done with just the two of us as main collaborators.
'We were so lucky to also work with our brilliant collaborators @sam_dew, @sounwave, Lana Del Rey, @jahaansweet, @keanubeats, William Bowery, and @zoeisabellakravitz. @sharp_stick was our excellent engineer. The wonderful and wise @bethgarrabrant took the album photographs.
'Midnights is a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows. Life can be dark, starry, cloudy, terrifying, electrifying, hot, cold, romantic or lonely. Just like Midnights. Which is out now'.
Taylor followed up this exciting update with even more news, revealing that she was releasing seven bonus songs along with the album. These additional songs are ‘The Great War’, ‘Bigger Than The Whole Sky’, 'Paris', 'High Fidelity', 'Glitch', 'Would've, Could've, Should've' and 'Dear Reader'.
Addressing fans, she wrote on social media: 'Surprise! I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour.
'However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13. I’m calling them 3am tracks. Lately I’ve been loving the feeling of sharing more of our creative process with you, like we do with From The Vault tracks. So it’s 3am and I’m giving them to you now. 🌌'.
How did Taylor Swift announce 'Midnights'?
Taylor Swift surprised fans with a new album announcement in August 2022, during her acceptance speech the MTV Video Music Awards, where she picked up the award for Video of the Year, for her song 'All Too Well'.
The singer, whose 10th studio album is called 'Midnights', told the audience: "And I had sort of made up my mind that if you were going to be this generous and give us this, I thought it might be a fun moment to tell you that my brand new album comes out October 21st. And I will tell you more at midnight."
That night, at midnight, the singer's website crashed as she shared further details on social media, including the album's artwork, along with a caption and statement. The caption read: 'Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.'
What is 'Midnights' about?
'Midnights' is a collection of songs Taylor wrote in the middle of the night. The singer, whose songwriting is now studied on a university course, wrote in her accompanying statement: 'We lie awake in love and in fear, in turmoil and in tears. We stare at walls and drink until they speak back. We twist in our self-made cages and pray that we aren't - right this minute - about to make some fateful life-altering mistake.
'This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching - hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.
'Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight.'
The making of 'Midnights'
Taylor Swift shared a short video showing some of the making of her new album. In the video she can be seen playing the piano, singing along and lying in bed with her cat.
Where did it come in the charts?
Unsurprisingly, 'Midnights' debuted at Number 1 in the UK, spending a total of five weeks at the top spot. It has also been certified 3x Platinum by the BPI, which translates to over 900,000 sales in the UK alone. Wow!
When was the album 'Midnights' released?
'Midnights' was released, rather appropriately, at midnight on 21st October 2022.
What is the tracklist for 'Midnights'?
1) 'Lavender Haze'
2) 'Maroon'
3) 'Anti-Hero'
4) 'Snow On The Beach (Ft. Lana Del Rey)'
5) 'You’re On Your Own, Kid'
6) 'Midnight Rain'
7) 'Question...?'
8) Vigilante Sh-t'
9) 'Bejeweled'
10) 'Labyrinth'
11) 'Karma'
12) 'Sweet Nothing'
13) 'Mastermind'
Taylor previously revealed there would be 13 songs on 'Midnights' and shared some of the track names on TikTok, using a bingo cage to choose number balls representing the song numbers.
Taking to TikTok to share a video of a bingo cage with 13 balls in it, Taylor told her fans: "It's me, 'hi'! I know that I have a habit of dropping cryptic clues and Easter eggs when giving you information about my music, and I’m not here to deny that. But I am here to defy that.
"Welcome to a new series I'm calling Midnights Mayhem with Me... I’m going to be using this technologically advanced device (bingo cage) to help me allow fate to decide exactly what track titles I’m going to be announcing, and in what order."
She went on to explain that the bingo cage contained 13 balls, each with a number one - 13 relating to the number of her tracks. Pulling out a bingo ball, Taylor continued: "The first track I'm going to tell you about is track 13...because of course!"
Is 'Midnights' available on vinyl?
Yes, 'Midnights' is available on vinyl, in three different colours. Taylor shared a short video showing the special editions.
Are there music videos for Taylor Swift's 'Midnights' songs?
Taylor released the music video for 'Anti-Hero', just a few hours after the album dropped! According to the singer, the video shows: 'My nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time'.
Watch the music video for 'Anti-Hero' by Taylor Swift:
On 25th October, she went on to release the video for 'Bejeweled' which reenacts the story of Cinderella.
Watch the music video for 'Bejeweled' by Taylor Swift:
Before the album dropped, Taylor also shared a teaser trailer of the videos she has made for midnights. While its hard to tell how many videos are in the compilation, it does look promising that we'll be getting a few new videos from Taylor!
The #TSAntiHeroChallenge
To coincide with the 'Anti-Hero' music video being released, Taylor created a YouTube short to start the #TSAntiHeroChallenge, where people share their anti-heroic traits.
Did Taylor Swift tour 'Midnights'?
Taylor has incorporated a 'Midnights' era into her humungous 'Eras Tour', performing songs like 'Lavender Haze', 'Anti-Hero', 'Midnight Rain' and 'Karma' on the tour - which began in March 2023 and is scheduled to continue through to December 2024.
What formats is Taylor Swift's 'Midnights' available on?
The album is available on vinyl, CD and cassette.
Take a look through Taylor Swift's amazing career:
2002: Taylor Swift performs the National Anthem
In 2002, a young Taylor Swift sang the American National Anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. It was clear early on she was destined to be a star.
2004: Taylor Swift signs her first record deal
In 2004, 14-year-old Taylor signed a record deal with Sony/ATV, becoming the youngest signing in the company's history.
2006: Taylor Swift releases her first single and album
By age 16, Taylor was already getting major recognition as an established country artist. She released her first single, 'Tim McGraw', off her self-titled debut album, which was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Her album was released on October 24th 2006 by Big Machine Records. The songstress wrote the best-performing songs 'Teardrops On My Guitar', 'Should've Said No' and 'Picture To Burn' whilst juggling high school with her blossoming music career.
Impressively, the singer-songwriter became the youngest person in history to single-handedly write and perform a Number 1 song on the Hot Country Songs chart with 'Our Song'. 'Teardrops on My Guitar' also performed well commercially, spending 48 weeks in the Billboard chart and became Taylor's first US top 20 hit.
2007: CMT Music Award win
Taylor Swift won the CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Artist, foreshadowing her massively successful career that was to follow. She also performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards, where she won the award for New Female Vocalist of the Year.
2008: Taylor Swift's 'Fearless' album
The super-talented Taylor released her second album, 'Fearless', in 2008. It became the longest Billboard chart-topper by a female country artist. The album held the Number 1 spot for 11 consecutive weeks in the US.
The lead single from this album, 'Love Story', stayed in the Billboard chart for 36 weeks. With the iconic music video re-telling a fairytale love, it became a firm fan favourite and cemented Taylor Swift in the pop scene. 'Love Story' won a number of awards including Song of The Year at BMI's Country Awards.
2009: VMA Best Female Video award
Although this might not typically be a highlight, it did start the complicated relationship that Taylor Swift and Kanye West went on to have. If you don't know what we're talking about then here's a quick recap. During her acceptance speech for her Best Female Video award win, Kanye West interrupted her on stage to speak up for Beyoncé's 'Single Ladies' video, which he believed should have won the award. This event started an infamous feud between the pair that spanned a decade.
Thankfully, Taylor later had the chance to finish her VMA's winner's speech when Beyoncé invited her back on stage during her own win.
Taylor Swift's 2009 was not clouded by this though as this was also the year that she embarked on her debut concert tour 'Fearless'. The tour was named after her second album of the same name. Beginning in Indiana and concluding in Canada, Justin Bieber was one of the support acts for this tour back in 2009.
2010: Taylor makes film debut in Valentine's Day
Taylor Swift proved she is a woman of many talents in her debut film role in the 2010 Valentine's Day. She played Felicia Miller the film, with the plot following a group of characters through their love struggles and relationships on Valentine's Day.
She was also listed as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Unsurprisingly, she made the list in 2015 and 2019 too.
2010: Taylor Swift wins her first Grammy Award
Taylor was awarded her first well-deserved Grammy, during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. She won Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her song 'White Horse'.
She won three other Grammy awards on that date, Best Country Song, Best Country Album for 'Fearless' and finally, the coveted Album of the Year award.
In her Grammy award acceptance speech, Taylor said, "This is my first Grammy, you guys! I mean this is, this is a Grammy! I live in awe of the people that I was nominated against in this category. I live in awe of my producer, Nathan Chapman, and all of the wonderful incredibly talented musicians in Nashville, and thank you to anyone who was a Grammy voter and decided that it might be a good idea to vote for me for this, because I'm so happy. Thank you so much!"
2011: Taylor Swift releases third studio album 'Speak Now'
2011 was the year that saw Taylor's third album release, 'Speak Now' with it winning Favourite Country Album at the American Music Awards. It also holds the record for Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist in the Guinness World Records. 'Mean', the best-performing single from the 'Speak Now' album, won two Grammy Awards.
Taylor also embarked on her first international headline tour, 'The Speak Now World Tour' in the same year.
2012: Taylor Swift's fourth album release, 'Red'
'Red' is Taylor's critically acclaimed fourth studio album and was released in 2012. It was her first album to top the UK Album Chart in the UK (with her next five album releases also going on to top the chart).
'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' became the lead single from her 2012 album. The single was Swift's first to peak at Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
Having already conquered the music industry at such young age, she released the iconic '22' song on this album, which took the world by storm and struck a chord with her fanbase.
2013: Taylor Swift's 'Red' tour begins
In 2013, the singer-songwriter embarked on her 'Red' World Tour. During this tour, she became the first female artist in history to sell out the Allianz Stadium in Sydney, Australia (with a 40,900 capacity), since it opened in 1988.
Plus, her hit song 'I Knew You Were Trouble', rumoured to be about her former love, Harry Styles, won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. In July 2024, it was certified 3x Platinum by the BPI, translating to 1.8 MILLION sales in the UK alone. Wow!
2014: '1989', Taylor's fifth studio album, is released
Taylor released 'Shake It Off', the first single off of her fifth studio album '1989'. Achieving great success, it became her second Billboard Hot 100 Number 1 single in the US and it peaked at Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. In June 2024, the song was certified 5x Platinum by the BPI, meaning it's seen over 3 million sales in the UK alone!
'1989' debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart with the largest sales week for an album since 2002, selling 1.287 million copies in the week ending November 2nd 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also went to Number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.
The '1989' album spent a full first year in the Top 10 in the US, making it just the fifth album to spend the first 52 weeks of its release in the Top 10.
2015: Taylor is made into a Madame Tussauds wax work
Taylor Swift gets her own waxwork in the Madame Tussauds gallery in Hollywood. Taylor later became a permanent fixture at the London Madame Tussauds in 2019.
'Bad Blood' achieved Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The epic 'Bad Blood' video premiered on the Billboard Music Awards. It created quite the stir by going viral instantly as it featured her star-studded friendship group including Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne and Jessica Alba.
2016: Taylor takes home three Grammy awards!
2016 was the year that Taylor won three Grammy Awards. She won Best Music Video with 'Bad Blood', and both best Pop Vocal Album and Album Of The Year with '1989'. She became the first woman to win the Album Of The Year Award twice.
2017: Taylor releases her fifth Number 1 album 'Reputation'
'Reputation' launched after an iconic Instagram deletion and subsequent revamp ahead of its release. 'Reputation' become the super-talented singer's fifth Number 1 album on the Billboard 200 and her third UK Number 1 album. With 1.2 million copies sold in its first week, Taylor became the first artist in Nielsen Music History to do so.
2017: Taylor is one of Time Magazine's 'Silence Breakers'
Taylor's summer court case saw the singer set out to prove a point by requesting only $1 in damages. As a result of her work fighting against sexual assault and harassment, Taylor was among the individuals highlighted.
In the Time interview about the court case, Taylor revealed: "I was angry. In that moment, I decided to forego any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened. This man hadn't considered any formalities when he assaulted me, and his lawyer didn't hold back on my mom - why should I be polite? I'm told it was the most amount of times the word 'ass' has ever been said in Colorado Federal Court."
2018: Taylor embarks on her 'Reputation' Stadium Tour
Taylor's 2018 'Reputation' tour was massively successful and broke the US record when it became the highest-grossing tour in US history. To top it off, the 38 tour show brought in ticket sales of over a whopping $2 million!
With all the drama of three stages, a ten-story screen, two lifts and LOTS of snakes, the worldwide tour was certainly a crowd pleaser!
2019: American Music Awards haul as Taylor wins six awards
2019 was the year that saw Taylor smash the record for winning the prestigious American Music Award, Artist Of The Decade, an astonishing six times!
The 'Shake It Off' singer made history at the 2019 AMAs, she became the highest-awarded person in the show's history. With an astonishing 28 total wins under her belt, she beat a record set by Michael Jackson.
2019: Cats song Golden Globe nominee
The singer-songwriter scored a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song for 'Beautiful Ghosts' from the Cats film, in which she also starred as Bombalurina.
2020: Taylor drops surprise albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’
2020 saw the surprise release of Taylor's eighth album, 'Folklore', which dropped via social media. It was recorded in lockdown and was just what Swifties needed! Her recent evolutionary journey has taken her to a recent move into folk music.
'Evermore' was the songstresses' second surprise 2020 album, released only five months after 'Folklore'. With 'Folklore' and 'Evermore' described as sister records, 'Evermore' explored the themes of love, marriage and grief, picking up where 'Folklore' left. Selling a million copies globally during its first week, it definitely got the acclaim it deserved!
Taylor's fan base has grown with her own artistic development, like they have been on the journey with her. In 2020, Taylor Swift also broken another record, holding the title for most cumulative weeks spent at Number One for a female artist on the Billboard 200.
2020: Miss Americana Netflix documentary release
Taylor's Netflix documentary Miss Americana premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in 2020. Explaining Taylor Swift's story from her own point of view, it offered insight into her hard-working, busy schedule. With both intimate portrayals of home life with her family and the exciting whirlwind of tours, album releases and recording in the studio.
The film also gave her the chance to address that infamous 2009 VMA's Kanye West feud. She explores the feud and how it caused her subsequent 'cancelling' but how she ultimately bounced back and rose above it!
2021: 'Fearless (Taylor's Version)'
After Taylor re-recorded her multi-million-selling 2008 album 'Fearless', we were all graced with 'Fearless (Taylor's Version) in April 2021.
The re-recording came about after talent manager Scooter Braun acquired the rights to Taylor's master recordings, from her former label Big Machine Label Group, in 2019. Reportedly, this included ownership of the singer's first six albums, from 2006 to 2017.
'Fearless (Taylor's Version)' was released through Republic Records and includes re-recorded versions of all 19 tracks from the platinum edition of 'Fearless', along with six additional 'from the vault' tracks that weren't included on the original album in 2008. Songs on the 2021 release include the iconic 'Love Story' and the world-renowned 'You Belong with Me'.
2021: BRIT Awards 2021 Global Icon
Taylor won the Global Icon Award at the BRIT Awards 2021, becoming the first female artist to ever take home the gong. In her acceptance speech, Taylor said she was "proud to be part of a musical community, especially in a year where we've needed music so much." She also paid tribute to the key workers in the audience.
2021: 'Red (Taylor's Version)'
Taylor released 'Red (Taylor's Version)' in November 2021, with rerecorded versions of the original album's songs and a 30 song track list.
The album includes a 10-minute version of 'All Too Well', and Taylor also directed a short film to accompany the song. She performed this version of the song live for the first time on SNL on 13th November.
Taylor also released her 'I Bet You Think About Me' music video directed by Blake Lively on 15th November.
2022: Taylor Swift receives an honorary doctorate
Taylor Swift received an honorary doctorate in fine arts at New York University. She also gave the commencement speech at the ceremony which was held at the Yankee Stadium.
2022: Taylor Swift confirms 'Midnights' tour
In October, the official Taylor Swift website confirmed that fans who pre-ordered her 'Midnights' album would get pre-sale access to 'forthcoming and yet to be announced Taylor Swift UK show dates'.
Fans were surprised and thrilled by the news and jumped at the chance to see her perform live, resulting in the website crashing hours after the announcement.
2022: Taylor stars in film Amsterdam
In June 2021 it was announced that Taylor was set to star in film Amsterdam alongside the likes of Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek and Mike Myers. It was released in October 2022 to rave reviews!
2022: Taylor has written a film script
In December 2022, it was announced that Taylor has actually penned a film script which is being put into production! Presidents of Searchlight Pictures David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield said: "Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller. It is a genuine joy and privilege to collaborate with her as she embarks on this exciting and new creative journey."
2023: Grammy Award win
Taylor won a Grammy Award in February 2023, taking home the Best Music Video gong for 'All Too Well: The Short Film'!
2023: Taylor Swift announces UK dates for her 'Eras' tour
Taylor Swift announced UK dates for her 'Eras' tour in June 2023. The singer announced that she will be performing in Liverpool, Edinburgh, Cardiff and London in June 2024, before returning for more dates in London in August.
July 2023 - 'Anti-Hero' hits a billion streams
In July 2023, Taylor's song 'Anti-Hero' surpassed a billion streams on Spotify. Taylor also has three other tracks in the Billions Club - 'Shake It Off' and 'Blank Space' from the album 1989, and her collab with Zayn Malik, 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever'.
September 2023: Taylor wins nine awards at the MTV Video Music Awards
Taylor won an incredible nine awards at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, winning an award in every category she was nominated in. The win took Taylor to an astonishing 18 VMA Awards in total, just two behind the overall record held by Madonna.
October 2023: Taylor releases '1989' (Taylor's Version) and 'Eras Tour' film
In August 2023, Taylor confirmed the highly-anticipated release date for '1989' (Taylor's Version). The re-recording of her 2014 album was then released on 27th October, featuring five previously unreleased tracks.
October 2023 also saw the release of her 'Eras Tour' movie, with the concert film hitting cinemas across the world. The film returned to the big screen later in December - 13th, to be exact - on Taylor's birthday. You can now stream the 'Eras Tour' film on Disney+.
December 2023: 'Eras Tour' achieves numerous Guinness World Records
By December 2023, Taylor had achieved a total of 118 Guinness World Records - including a whopping seven for the 'Eras Tour' alone! The tour became the first in history to surpass $1 billion in revenue - bagging Guinness World Records in 2023 for the following: Highest-grossing Concert or Performance film at the Global Box office, Highest-grossing Music Tour, Highest-grossing Music Tour by a Female Artist, Highest-grossing Music Tour in a Single Year, Highest-grossing Music Tour by a Female Artist, Highest-grossing Music Tour by a Solo Artist and Highest-grossing Music Tour Per Concert by a Female Artist.
February 2024: Historic Grammy win
Taylor Swift picked up two Grammy Awards at the prestigious ceremony in 2024, following a whopping six nominations. The singer won awards for Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year - making history at the event as this is the first time an artist has won the Album of the Year award four times.
February 2024: 'The Tortured Poets Department' album announcement
Not only did Taylor make history at the Grammy Awards 2024, but she announced the huge news that her 11th studio album was on the way. In her acceptance speech for Best Pop Vocal Album, she revealed she had been keeping a 'secret' for two years, going on to announce her 11th studio album 'The Tortured Poets Department' was on the way and was set for release on 19th April 2024.
April 2024: Taylor releases 'The Tortured Poets Department'
Taylor's 11th studio album 'The Tortured Poets Department' was released on Friday 19th April 2024, to huge acclaim from both fans and critics alike. One week after its release, it was certified Gold by the BPI - translating to 100,000 sales in the UK alone; and two weeks after release, was certified Platinum... Meaning 300,000 sales in the UK. Wow!
You can hear songs by Taylor Swift on Forth 1.
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