Showing posts with label Shake It Off. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shake It Off. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Pop Culture Madness: Songs of the Year (1898-2024)

Pop Culture Madness:

Songs of the Year, 1898-2024

Pop Culture Madness bills itself as having charts which reflect continued popularity of songs, not just what was popular in its time. As such, their choices for best songs each year are often songs which never hit #1 on the charts. They have annual charts dating from 1955 to the present. With lists for 1900-1919 and another for the 1800s, that span can be stretched back to 1898.

Check out other “songs of the year” lists here.

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 4/12/2019; last updated 12/31/2024.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Taylor Swift: Top 100 Songs

Taylor Swift

Top 100 Songs

Taylor Alison Swift was born on 12/13/1989 in Reading, Pennyslvania. She released her first album in 2006 while still a teenager. She started out as a country artist, but had completely transformed to a pop star by 2014. And her 1989 album. She has sold more than 200 million records worldwide and won three Grammys for Album of the Year.

Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Spotify Podcast:

Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast The Best of Taylor Swift, 2006-2022 based on this list. Debut: October 24, 2022, at 7pm CST. New episodes based on Dave’s Music Database lists are posted every Tuesday at 7pm CST.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to charts.)

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Shake It Off (2014) US, BA, DG, ST, RR, AC, A40, CN, AU
2. Love Story (2008) RR, AC, CW, AU
3. Blank Space (2014) US, BA, DG, ST, RR, AC, A40, CN, AU
4. You Belong with Me (2008) BA, RR, AC, CW

DMDB Top 2%:

5. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (2012) US, DG, CW, CN
6. Bad Blood (with Kendrick Lamar, 2014) US, BA, DG, RR, A40, CN, AU
7. Anti-Hero (2022) US, BA, DG, ST, UK, AU
8. I Knew You Were Trouble (2012) BA, DG, RR, A40

DMDB Top 5%:

9. Look What You Made Me Do (2017) US, DG, ST, RR, UK, CN, AU
10. Wildest Dreams (2014) BA, RR, A40
11. All Too Well (Taylor’s version) (2021) US, DG, ST, CW, CN, AU
12. Style (2014) RR, AC, A40
13. I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (with Zayn, 2016) DG
14. Cardigan (2020) US, DG, ST, AU
15. You Need to Calm Down (2019) DG

16. Delicate (2017) RR, AC, A40
17. Willow (2020) US, DG, A40, CN, AU
18. Mine (2010) DG, AC
19. Teardrops on My Guitar (2006)
20. Me! (with Brendan Urie, 2019) DG

DMDB Top 10%:

21. 22 (2012)
22. Lover (2019) DG
23. Back to December (2010) DG
24. Ready for It? (2017) DG
25. Today Was a Fairytale (2010) DG, CN
26. Cruel Summer (2019) US, RR, A40, CN
27. Our Song (2006) CW
28. Mean (2010)
29. All Too Well (2012)
30. Everything Has Changed (with Ed Sheeran, 2012)

DMDB Top 20%:

31. Fifteen (2008)
32. White Horse (2008)
33. Gorgeous (2017) DG
34. Love Story (Taylor’s version) (2021) DG, CW
35. The Man (2019)
36. Karma (2022) RR
37. Red (2012)
38. Eyes Open (2012)
39. Half of My Heart (with John Mayer, 2009)
40. Lavender Haze (2022)

41. Begin Again (2012) DG
42. Out of the Woods (2014) DG
43. Highway Don’t Care (with Tim McGraw, 2013) CW
44. Exile (with Bon Iver, 2020)
45. Renegade (with Big Red Machine, 2021)
46. Bejeweled (2022)
47. Snow on the Beach (with Lana Del Rey, 2022)
48. End Game (with Ed Sheeran, 2017)
49. Two Is Better Than One (with Boys Like Girls, 2009)
50. Safe & Sound (with Civil Wars, 2011)

51. Only the Young (2020)
52. Carolina (2022)
53. Both of Us (with B.o.B., 2012)
54. The Story of Us (2010)

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

55. Ours (2011) CW
56. Picture to Burn (2006)
57. Midnight Rain (2022)
58. No Body, No Crime (with Haim, 2020)
59. Welcome to New York (2014)
60. Sweet Nothing (2022)

61. Fearless (2009)
62. Should’ve Said No (2006) CW
63. Tim McGraw (2006)
64. Sparks Fly (2010) CW
65. Jump Then Fall (2009)
66. You’re on Your Own Kid (2022)
67. Speak Now (2010)
68. State of Grace (2012)
69. Coney Island (with the National, (2020)
70. Crazier (2009)

71. I Bet You Think About Me (with Chris Stapleton, 2021)
72. Vigilante Shit (2022)
73. Mastermind (2022)
74. Question…? (2022) DG
75. Paper Rings (2019)
76. Sweeter Than Fiction (2013)
77. Maroon (2022)
78. I Forgot That You Existed (2019)
79. The Joker and the Queen (with Ed Sheeran, 2021)
80. Hits Different (2022) DG

81. Forever & Always (2008)
82. Labyrinth (2022)
83. The Archer (2019)
84. Corneila Street (2019)
85. You’re Not Sorry (2008)
86. London Boy (2019)
87. New Romantics (2015)
88. Enchanted (2010)
89. Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince (2019)
90. Death by a Thousand Cuts (2019)

91. I Think He Knows (2019)
92. Afterglow (2019)
93. I Almost Do (2012)
94. Christmas Tree Farm (2019)
95. Stay Stay Stay (2012)
96. Daylight (2019)
97. The Moment I Knew (2013)
98. Message in a Bottle (Taylor’s Version) (2021)
99. Call It What You Want (2017) DG
100. The 1 (2020)

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First posted 8/27/2017; last updated 10/25/2023.

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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Taylor Swift: The #1’s

Taylor Swift

The #1’s: 2006-2023

Overview:

Singer born Taylor Alison Swift on 12/13/1989 in Reading, Pennyslvania. She released her first album in 2006 while still a teenager. She started out as a country artist but completely transformed to a pop star by 2014 with her 1989 album. She has spent more weeks atop the Billboard album chart (54) than any other woman in history. She has sold more than 200 million records worldwide and won three Grammys for Album of the Year.

On the Web:

Lists:

Awards:

The Studio Albums:

Hover over an album cover to see its title and year of release. Click on the album to go to its dedicated DMDB page.

Compilations:

While Swift has released multiple editions of her studio albums and even re-recorded versions of some of them, she has yet to release a proper career retrospective. This page offers a glimpse of each of her studio albums, highlighting those songs which have reached #1 on various charts, thus offering a sampling of what songs would be most likely to appear on a very overdue compilation. Dates indicate the songs first appearance at #1 on any of the noted charts. Click for codes to singles charts.

Taylor Swift (2006):

Swift’s self-titled debut was released when she was sixteen years old. The album gave her five top-10 country hits, two of which went to #1. All five of those songs also reached the Billboard top 40. The album spent 24 weeks atop the country album chart and reached #5 on the overall Billboard album chart. It was certified as 7x platinum.

  • 12/22/2007: “Our Song” (CW: 6)
  • 8/23/2008: “Should’ve Said Now” (CW: 2)

Fearless (2008):

Like its predecessor, Swift’s second album gave her five top-10 country hits, two of which reached #1. However, this album made her a bona fide pop star, giving her five top-10 pop hits and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. In addition, the two songs listed here rank amongst the DMDB’s top 1000 of all time. The album spent 11 weeks at #1 on the overall Billboard album chart and 35 weeks atop the country chart. It was certified for 10 million in sales in the United States.

Valentine’s Day (soundtrack, 2010):

  • 2/6/2010: “Today Was a Fairytale” (DG: 1, CN: 1)

Speak Now (2010):

Once again, Swift kept one foot in pop and the other in country, spending 6 and 13 weeks atop those respective album charts. It was certified for 6 million in sales in the U.S. The album gave her five more top-10 country hits and four more top-10 pop hits.

  • 8/21/2010: “Mine” (DG: 1, AC: 1)
  • 10/30/2010: “Back to December” (DG: 1)
  • 11/26/2011: “Sparks Fly” (CW: 1)
  • 3/31/2012: “Ours” (CW: 1)

Red (2012):

Swift’s farewell to country saw her spend 16 weeks at #1 on the country album chart and 7 on the pop chart. It landed 7 million in sales in the United States. She got three more top-10 country hits and four top-10 pop hits, including her first pop chart-topper, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

  • 9/1/2012: “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (BB: 3, DG: 5, CW: 10, CN: 4)
  • 10/13/2012: “Begin Again” (DG: 1)
  • 10/27/2012: “I Knew You Were Trouble” (BA: 4, DG: 3, RR: 6, A40: 1)

1989 (2014):

Swift’s full-fledged pop coronation made her a superstar. She racked up three #1 pop hits and two more top-10’s. “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” rank in the DMDB’s top 1000 of all time. The album logged 11 weeks atop the Billboard album chart. At more than 12 million sales worldwide, it is her biggest seller to date. It also garnered her a second Album of the Year Grammy.

  • 9/6/2014: “Shake It Off” (BB: 4, BA: 4, DG: 4, ST: 2, RR: 2, AC: 5, A40: 8, CN: 4, AU: 3)
  • 11/1/2014: “Out of the Woods” (DG: 1)
  • 11/15/2014: “Blank Space” (BB: 7, BA: 6, DG: 7, ST: 7, RR: 5, AC: 4, A40: 6, CN: 6, AU: 3)
  • 3/15/2015: “Style” (RR: 3, AC: 2, A40: 2)
  • 6/6/2015: “Bad Blood” (with Kendrick Lamar, BB: 1, BA: 5, DG: 5, RR: 6, A40: 3, CN: 1, AU: 3)
  • 10/25/2015: “Wildest Dreams” (BA: 2, RR: 2, A40: 4)

Fifty Shades Darker (soundtrack, 2017):

  • 12/31/2016: “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” (with Zayn, DG: 2)

Reputation (2017):

This one spent four weeks at #1 on the album chart and sold more than 4.5 million worldwide. It gave Swift another Billboard Hot 100 chart topper with “Look What You Made Me Do” and a top-5 hit with “Ready for It?” Three more songs reached the top 20.

  • 9/16/2017: “Look What You Made Me Do” (BB: 3, DG: 1, ST: 2, RR: 1, UK: 2, CN: 3, AU: 2)
  • 9/23/2017: “Ready for It?” (DG: 1)
  • 11/11/2017: “Gorgeous” (DG: 1)
  • 11/25/2017: “Call It What You Want” (DG: 1)
  • 7/22/2018: “Delicate” (RR: 1, AC; 10, A40: 4)

Lover (2019):

Swift’s sixth consecutive chart-topper only spent one week atop the Billboard album chart but matched the 4.5+ million in sales of its predecessor. Swift barely missed the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking in the runner-up spot with “Me!” and “You Need to Calm Down.” The title cut was also a top-10 hit. The most interesting story, however, belongs to “Cruel Summer.” The fan favorite essentially served as the opening song on Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour and finally got its chart due, going all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 nearly five years after its initial release.

  • 5/11/2019: “Me!” (with Brendon Urie, DG: 1)
  • 6/29/2019: “You Need to Calm Down” (DG: 1)
  • 8/31/2019: “Lover” (DG: 2)
  • 7/31/2023: “Cruel Summer” (BB: 1, RR: 2)

Miss Americana (documentary, 2020):

  • 2/15/2020: “Only the Young” (DG: 1)

Folklore (2020):

For her eighth album, Swift racked up another eight weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart, but saw a drop-off in sales. It still sold 2 million worldwide. “Cardigan” gave Swift another #1 hit and “Exile” and “The 1” reached the top 10. The album was her third to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.

  • 8/8/2020: “Cardigan” (BB: 1, DG: 1, ST: 1)

Evermore (2020):

Swift’s ninth studio release gave her another 3 weeks atop the Billboard album chart. This was her first album to fail to sell a million copies. “Willow” became Swift’s seventh song to reach the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100.

  • 12/26/2020: “Willow” (BB: 1, DG: 1, A40: 3)

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021):

  • 2/27/2021: “Love Story (Taylor’s Version)” (DG: 1)

Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021):

  • 11/15/2021: “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” (BB: 1, DG: 1, ST: 1, CW: 3, CN: 1, AU: 1)

Midnights (2023):

Swift made history with her Midnights album when she locked down the entire top ten slots on the Billboard Hot 100. The album’s lead single, “Anti-Hero,” became her biggest #1 on the chart, spending eight weeks on top.

  • 11/5/2022: “Anti-Hero” (BB: 8, BA: 5, DG: 5, ST: 2, RR: 3, A40: 7, UK: 6, CN: 5, AU: 6)
  • 11/5/2022: “Question…?” (DG: 1)
  • 6/10/2023: “Hits Different” (DG: 1)
  • 7/10/2023: “Karma” (RR: 2)

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First posted 11/16/2021; last updated 10/24/2023.

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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Top 50 Songs of 2014

Dave’s Music Database:

Top 50 Songs of 2014

These are the top 50 songs of the year based on their overall performance in Dave’s Music Database, which is determined by combining chart data, sales figures, streaming, video views, and aggregates from year-end lists.

Check out “Top Songs and Albums of the Year” lists here.

    DMDB Top 1%:

  1. Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars “Uptown Funk!”
  2. Ed Sheeran “Thinking Out Loud”
  3. Taylor Swift “Shake It Off”
  4. Meghan Trainor “All About That Bass”
  5. Taylor Swift “Blank Space”
  6. Sam Smith “Stay with Me”
  7. Iggy Azalea with Charli XCX “Fancy”
  8. OMI “Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn remix)”
  9. Maroon 5 “Sugar”

    DMDB Top 2%:

  10. Sia “Chandelier”

  11. Walk the Moon “Shut Up and Dance”
  12. Taylor Swift with Kendrick Lamar “Bad Blood”
  13. Fetty Wap “Trap Queen”
  14. Ariana Grande with Iggy Azalea “Problem”
  15. Jessie J with Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj “Bang Bang”
  16. Clean Bandit with Jess Glynne “Rather Be”

    DMDB Top 5%:

  17. The Weeknd “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)”
  18. Enrique Iglesias, Descemer Bueno, & Gente de Zona “Bailando”
  19. Ed Sheeran “Photograph”
  20. Sam Smith “I’m Not the Only One”

  21. Taylor Swift “Wildest Dreams”
  22. Calvin Harris “Summer”
  23. Taylor Swift “Style”
  24. Elle King “Ex’s and Oh’s”
  25. Maroon 5 “Animals”
  26. The Black Keys “Fever”
  27. Coldplay “A Sky Full of Stars”
  28. Maroon 5 “Maps”
  29. Sheppard “Geronimo”
  30. James Bay “Let It Go”

  31. Future Islands “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
  32. Iggy Azalea with Rita Ora “Black Widow”

    DMDB Top 10%:

  33. Ed Sheeran “Don’t”
  34. Nicki Minaj “Anaconda”
  35. Fall Out Boy “Centuries”
  36. Pitbull with Ne-Yo “Time of Our Lives”
  37. Charli XCX “Boom Clap”
  38. Ed Sheeran “Sing”
  39. Ariana Grande with Zedd “Break Free”
  40. Meghan Trainor “Lips Are Movin’”

  41. Jason Derulo with Snoop Dogg “Wiggle”
  42. Imagine Dragons “I Bet My Life”
  43. 5 Seconds of Summer “She Looks So Perfect”
  44. Nick Jonas “Jealous”
  45. Ariana Grande with the Weeknd “Love Me Harder”
  46. Big Sean & E-40 “I Don’t Fuck with You”
  47. Foo Fighters “Something from Nothing”
  48. Michael Jackson with Justin Timberlake “Love Never Felt So Good”
  49. Meghan Trainor “Dear Future Husband”
  50. Lillywood & the Prick with Robin Schulz “Prayer in C”

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 12/31/2014; last updated 1/18/2023.

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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Taylor Swift dethrones herself at #1 with “Blank Space”

Blank Space

Taylor Swift

Writer(s): Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback (see lyrics here)

Released: November 10, 2014

First Charted: November 2, 2014

Peak: 17 US, 16 BA, 17 DG, 17 ST, 15 RR, 14 AC, 16 A40, 4 UK, 16 CN, 13 AU, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, 1.63 UK, 11.68 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3301.3 video, 1336.73 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

“Blank Space” was the second single from Taylor Swift’s fifth studio album 1989. It followed previous single, “Shake It Off,” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. In fact, Swift knocked herself out of the top spot, becoming the first woman in the history of the chart to do so. WK So far, it has been her longest reign at #1.

The “electropop song” was compared by some critics to the work of Lorde (“Royals”). WK Lyrically, it “satirizes the media’s perception of Swift and her relationships.” WK She is portrayed as “an overly attached maneater who dates for songwriting material.” WK She sings that she’s “got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane” and that she has “a blank space, baby, and I’ll write your name.” Swift wrote the song with Max Martin and Shellback, who also produced.

PopMatters called the song “likely the best of Swift’s career.” WK The New York Times said “This is Ms. Swift at her peak.” WK The song was nominated for Gramys for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance. She also took home an iHeart Radio Music Award for Best Lyrics for the song. SF

For the video, Swift wanted to continue with the jokes about how she included her ex-boyfriends in her songs. Joseph Kahn, who’d done Eminem’s “Without Me” and Katy Perry’s “Waking Up in Vegas,” was tapped to direct the video. Swift is depicted as “an unhinged lovelorn woman who lives alone in a giant mansion.” SF In July 2015, the video became the fourth to reach one billion views on Vevo. WK It won the MTV awards for Best Pop Video and Best Female Video. WK

Resources:

Related Links:

Last updated 7/25/2023.

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Monday, October 27, 2014

Taylor Swift released 1989

1989

Taylor Swift

Released: October 27, 2014

Peak: 111 US, 11 UK, 19 CN, 19 AU

Sales (in millions): 9.0 US, 1.25 UK, 12.71 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: pop

Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Welcome to New York (Taylor Swift/Ryan Tedder) [3:32] (11/8/14, 48 US)
  2. Blank Space (Swift/Max Martin/Shellback) [3:51] (11/10/14, 17 US, 14 AC, 16 A40, 4 UK, 16 CA, 13 AU, sales: 11.68 million worldwide)
  3. Style (Swift/Martin/Shellback/Ali Payami) [3:51] (11/15/14, 6 US, 12 AC, 12 A40, 21 UK, 6 CA, 8 AU, sales: 2.98 million worldwide)
  4. Out of the Woods (Swift/Jack Antonoff) [Antonoff/Swift/Martin] (11/1/14, 18 US, 8 CN, 19 AU, sales: 0.5 million)
  5. All You Had to Do Was Stay (Swift/Martin) [3:13] (11/15/14, 92 CN)
  6. Shake It Off (Swift/Martin/Shellback) [3:39] (8/18/14, 14 US, 15 AC, 18 A40, 58a CW, 3 UK, 14 CA, 13 AU, sales: 10.36 million worldwide)
  7. I Wish You Would (Swift/Antonoff) [3:27]
  8. Bad Blood (Swift/Martin/Shellback) [3:31] (11/15/14, 11 US, 11 AC, 13 A40, 4 UK, 11 CN, 13 AU, sales: 2.55 million worldwide)
  9. Wildest Dreams (Swift/Martin/Shellback) [3:40] (11/15/14, 5 US, 2 AC, 14 A40, 40 UK, 4 CN, 3 AU, sales: 3.62 million worldwide)
  10. How You Get the Girl (Swift/Martin/Shellback) [4:10] (11/15/14, 81 CN)
  11. This Love (Swift) [4:10] (11/15/14, 84 CN)
  12. I Know Places (Swift/Tedder) [3:15]
  13. Clean (Swift/Imogen Heap) [4:30]

Total Running Time: 48:41

Rating:

3.648 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)

Quotable: “1989 is the Thriller of the 2010s.” – Consequence of Sound

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

“1989 is the Thriller of the 2010s.” CS’19 The New York Times’ Jon Caramanica said Swift was aiming for “a mode of timelessness that few true pop stars even bother aspiring to.” WK “It’s the true-blue pop album that doesn’t die, storming through one month after another, until you sit back and go, ‘Jesus Christ, that came out two years ago?’” CS’19 “Every song feels and sounds like a smash hit, and half of them actually were.” AV “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Bad Blood” “became part of our American life the same way ‘Beat It,’ ‘Billie Jean,’ and ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ became American FM traditions.” CS’19

“Out of all of Swift’s post-country albums, 1989 remains her most fully realized,” UD the moment that “saw her shake off any remaining country trappings to become a gleaming synthpop behemoth.” GU This was “a love letter to the Pet Shop Boys and Eurythmics, all glossy synths, icy snares.” RS’20 Swift had experimented with “blatant pop music on the still country-tinged Red” RS’19 but with 1989 she took “the biggest risk of her career.” RS’11

The album, named after Swift’s birth year, saw Swift “replacing acoustic guitars and pedal steel with multi-layered synthscapes, drum machines, and densely packed vocal tracking.” SL She maintained the “savvy, self-aware lyrics” NME she’d honed in “writing astutely observed country ballads” SL such that 1989’s “standout tracks retain the narrative detail and clever metaphor-building that distinguished Swift’s early songs.” SL “Shedding her younger skin and going for broke with a new identity” BB proved fruitful. “Everything on this blockbuster collection sounded timeless.” NME

Swift called it her most “sonically cohesive” studio album. WK It generally satisfied her critics as well. The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis said the album is full of “undeniable melodies and huge, perfectly turned choruses and nagging hooks.” WK Billboard said “it was big, bright and fun, even in her more lovelorn moments” BB and the AV Club said “it’s smart and cheeky by turns, expertly produced but also resolutely human.” AV “Every note and marketing stunt seems carefully planned, sure, but…[it] was far from pre-fab. It’s one of those incredibly rare records that unites everyone from jaded music critics to tweens, a phenomenon that might seem perfectly manufactured but is in fact a kind of rare cosmic event.” AV

1989 became Swift’s third album to sell more than a million copies in its first week, making her the first artist to do so. WK The 1.287 million tally was the highest sales week since 2002 WK and 1989 was the only album in 2014 to exceed a million in sales. WK Swift also won her second Grammy for Album of the Year.

“Shake It Off”

She also repeated herself in leading off with a Max Martin and Shellback produced single (Shake It Off) which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, just as she’d done with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” in 2012. With its “undeniable energy” AV her reply to detractors was “the ‘Hey Ya’ of 2014.” AV It was certified double platinum by the RIAA before the album was even released and became her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit to date, amassing 50 weeks on the chart. IS The song, a reply to Swift’s detractors, was supported by a video which would surpass 2 billion views.

“Blank Space”

Lyrically, Swift is at her most experimental and self-referential, like on the cheeky Blank Space.” RS’19 The “minimalist electropop” WK of the official second single and gave Swift the distinction of being the first artist to knock herself from the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. WK The song was an “imperious meta-pop takedown of her image of a serial Dater who uses her exes as score-settling songwriting fodder…using a humour and lightness of touch she’s never equalled.” NME She constructed “a delightfully psychotic version of herself in one of her best songs ever.” BB Like its predecessor, it amassed more than 2 billion YouTube views.

“Bad Blood”

The “vitriolic” RS’11 Bad Blood was about an unnamed female singer – speculation has suggested Katy Perry – who hired away Swift’s tour personnel to sabotage the tour. WK A remixed version of the song featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar was the third #1 single from the album and racked up over 1 billion views on YouTube. It won MTV’s Video of the Year.

“Style”

Style was also a top-10 hit. Insider’s Ahlgrim described it as a “transcendent experience,” IS and said that “Lyrically, Swift has rarely been more in control. Each winking detail has been carefully chosen; each image is precisely painted. The song's narrative builds and smolders, gradually, until the climactic lament…blows it all wide open…The moment feels like an explosion, or a rebirth.” IS

Other Songs

Wildest Dreams, with its “atmospheric romance,” RS’19 was the fifth single from the album to reach the top 10 in the U.S. The sixth, and final, official single was the top 20 hit Out of the Woods, with what Insider described as “the perfect bridge.” IS

“Songs like I Know Places ride a reggae swagger and trap-influenced snare beats before launching into a soaring, Pat Benatar-esque chorus. It’s an effortless fusion that, like much of 1989, displays Swift’s willingness to venture outside her comfort zone without much of a safety net, and test out an array of sonic experiments that feel both retro and of the moment.” SL

The album also included the “atmospheric” IS “electro-chill of Clean,” RS’20 “easily the holy grail among Swift’s closing tracks.” IS This is “one of her starkest, grandest romantic exorcisms, comparing love’s memory to ‘a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore’ and unspooling images of drowning and surviving that can bring to mind another Eighties hero, Kate Bush.” RS’20

Notes: A deluxe edition added tracks “Wonderland,” “You Are in Love,” and “New Romantics.” A Target deluxe edition also added alternate versions of “I Know Places,” “I Wish You Would,” and “Blank Spaces.” In 2015, Ryan Adams released a track-by-track covers album of 1989.

Resources and Related Links:

Other Related DMDB Pages:

First posted 12/23/2020; last updated 4/22/2022.

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