Saturday, May 4, 2024

Taylor Swift “Fortnight” debuted at #1

Fortnight

Taylor Swift with Post Malone

Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff, Austin Post (see lyrics here)

Released: April 19, 2024

First Charted: May 5, 2024

Peak: 1² BB, 1¹ DG, 1¹ ST, 16 AC, 1¹ A40, 1¹ UK, 1¹ CN, 1² AU (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.6 UK, 1.05 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 151.40 video, 782.44 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Taylor Swift was born in 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She released her first album in 2006 while still a teenager. While she started as a country singer, she quickly crossed over to pop. She reached a commercial zenith with her 1989 album in 2014 and then seemed to be dropping off slightly with her next few albums, which included two indie-folk style albums in 2020.

In 2022, she roared back with the hugely successful Midnights, propelled by “Anti-Hero,” her biggest #1 hit to date, and locking down the entire top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 the week the album was released. Her Eras Tour launched in 2023 and over a year-and-a-half became the highest-grossing tour of all time, grossing more than $1 billion.

In the middle of the tour, she released her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department. The lead single, “Fortnight,” is “an ‘80s-inspired downtempo electropop tune” ^SF reminiscent of power ballads by Roxette, Cutting Crew, and Phil Collins. ^WK The narrator is in an unhappy marriage and happens to live next door to her also-married ex-lover. “Fortnight” is a British term meaning two weeks, which references the doomed couple’s “fleeting romantic relationship that lasted only two weeks.” ^SF

The song paired her with Post Malone (who assumes the voice of the ex-lover/neighbor). When it debuted at #1 it became her twelfth chart-topper and his fifth. It set the record for the highest single-day streams on Spotify ^WK and garnered Grammy nominations for Song and Record of the Year. It also won MTV’s Video of the Year award.