Taylor Swift’s ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ Is ‘On Its Way’

Surprise! Taylor Swift’s 1989 is the next “Version”.

Swift let fly with the news that many had been waiting for, that 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was “on its way,” with a release date of Oct. 27, she confirms on her social accounts.

Initially issued in 2014, 1989 is the album that “changed my life in countless ways,” continues Swift, adding that “it fills me with such excitement to announce” her latest “Version.”

And there’s an added incentive to tune in, as if Swifties needed any more hype. “To be perfectly honest,” TayTay writes, “this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!”

The forthcoming LP is available to pre-order from Swift’s official website in four special-edition deluxe CDs (“Crystal Skies Blue,” “Rose Garden Pink,” “Aquamarine Green” and “Sunrise Boulevard Yellow”), and will also be issued in “Crystal Skies Blue” vinyl and cassette formats.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) will be Swift’s fourth “Version,” since announcing her re-recording project in 2019. The previous three all logged time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) with two weeks in 2021, Red (Taylor’s Version) with one week in 2021, and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) with two weeks in 2023. Also, all three have led the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

With 21 total “From The Vault” songs across those three Version albums, Swift has scored multiple top 10 hits on the Hot 100, earned traction at pop radio, and even scored a No. 1, with the 10-minute version of “All Too Well”.

The original recording of 1989 spent a whopping 11 weeks at No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 following its release.

1989 had been a hot pick for Version No. 4, seeing as Swift has already shared a small handful of tracks from it, including “Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version),” following the song’s viral turn on TikTok, in November 2021, then “This Love (Taylor’s Version),” which turned up in the trailer for the Amazon Prime series The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Swift seems to set and smash records with relative ease. This year, the pop superstar collected her 12th U.S. No. 1 with Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), surpassing Barbra Streisand for the most among women, while she also becoming the first living artist in nearly 60 years with four concurrent albums in the top 10, and nailing 11 albums on the entire 200-position chart for the first time.

In the U.K., she’s the first and only artist this century to accumulate 10 No. 1 albums.

And as the on-sale for her blockbuster The Eras Tour established new marks in Australia, she recently swamped the ARIA Albums Chart, securing the top 5 positions in a single frame, an all-time record. She then replaced herself at No. 1 on the tally, becoming the first artist to do so since the ARIA Charts began in 1983.

Confirmation of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) early Thursday ET coincided with the conclusion of Swift’s last night at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, where she’s played a total of six nights, wrapping the first U.S. leg of The Eras Tour.

Beginning Aug. 24, she’ll take the trek global with a slew of international dates in Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe before returning to the states in 2024 for a second lap of North America.

Lars Brandle

Billboard