Swifties Smash Records: 'The Tortured Poets Department' Most-Streamed Album Ever on Spotify in 24 Hours

As Taylor Swift declared, "And now the story isn’t mine anymore… it’s all yours." And her fans definitely followed through with that blessing.

Swift's The Tortured Poets Department and the debut single "Fortnight (feat. Post Malone)" have broken Spotify records for the platform's most streamed album in a single day with more than 300 million streams, The single also shares the same record for most streams in a single day, surpassing Adele's "Easy On Me" in 2021. Collaborator Malone had this to say on his X (formerly Twitter) account on April 20:

"It’s once in a lifetime that someone like @taylorswift13 comes into this world. I am floored by your heart and your mind, and I am beyond honored to have been asked to help you with your journey. I love you so much. Thank you Tay"

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Since the album drop on April 19 (and the surprise 2 a.m. add of an additional 15 tracks), Swift's trajectory of most listened and most watched music has also been on the rise. The Swift-directed and written video for the above with Malone, Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles) premiered Friday night and as of April 22, has over 29 million views. She also shared insight into the making of the video in this post on her X account:

"When I was writing the 'Fortnight' music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music. Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it. Post Malone blew me away on set as our tortured tragic hero and I’m so grateful to him for everything he put into this collaboration. I’m still laughing from getting to work with the coolest guys on earth, Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles (tortured poets, meet your colleagues from down the hall, the dead poets)."

There are many numbers to dig through with this release. The (expected) debut at Number 1 on both the UK Official Charts and Billboard 200 won't be official for a few days, but the reported tally from music industry sources has noted that it's surpassed Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter as the biggest album in 2024 so far. Physical sales are at 1.4 million according to initial reports to data tracking firm Luminate, marking Swift’s biggest sales week ever for any album in the U.S.

The coming weeks will reveal if the album can maintain its momentum, but for now, The Tortured Poets Department reigns supreme.