 | The Fate of OpheliaTaylor Swift |
Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback (see lyrics here) Released: October 3, 2025 First Charted: October 8, 2025 Peak: 18 BB, 16 DG, 17 ST, 14 RR, 4 AC, 14 A40, 17 UK, 110 CN, 16 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK, 1.41 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 305.07 video, 885.60 streaming |
Awards:Click on award for more details. 
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About the Song:Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in 2025. Like her previous two albums, it created a chart juggernaut upon its release, locking down the entire top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. “The Fate of Ophelia” led the pack, debuting at #1 and giving Swift her twelfth chart-topper. The “stripped-down ballad” NP is a “spiritual sequel” BB’25 to her 2008 hit “Love Story” in which she rewrote Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Here she tackles the bard’s Hamlet. “Instead of country twang [as on ‘Love Story’], she goes for thrillingly exuberant synth-pop.” RS’25 “Instead of the starry-eyed romance…from the perspective of a teenage Taylor…we have an eyes-wide-open heroine who worries that she’s doomed to the tragic fate of Hamlet’s wife.” BB’25 In the play, Ophelia “drowns due to madness fom grief and romantic rejection.” WK Similarly, Swift keeps the lyrical focus of her “Ophelia”squarely on emotional fallout and self-reflection.” NP “We still have the Shakesperean theme front and center” BB’25 as in “Love Story” but here, unlike in the Shakespeare play, “a soulmate…saves Swift from a destiny of death like that of Ophelia.” WK The song features“belt-along lyrics,” BB’25 “muted production and one of Swift’s most restrained vocal performances in years.” NP The song set global records fo the most streamed song on Spotify in a single day as well as its first week. WK The New York Post named it the song of the year. Resources:
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First posted 1/20/2026. |
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