You are not your mistakes.

After its first six days of release in the U.S., Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department has broken the single-week streaming record in the U.S. for an album, according to initial reports to data tracking firm Luminate.

The collected 31 songs across the deluxe edition of The Tortured Poets Department generated 799 million on-demand official streams in the U.S. on April 19-24. It breaks the record for the largest streaming week for an album, previously set by the opening frame of Drake’s Scorpion (745.92 million for its 25 songs in 2018).

Luminate’s sales, streaming and airplay data powers Billboard’s charts. All numbers in this story reflect U.S. consumption only. The current tracking week ends on April 25.

The album’s final first-week numbers (equivalent album units, total traditional album sales and streaming figures) are expected to be announced by Billboard on Sunday, April 28, along with its assumed large debut on the multi-metric Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 4).

The Tortured Poets Department earned 2.5 million equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first six days. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 1.85 million.

If The Tortured Poets Department debuts atop the Billboard 200, it will mark Swift’s 14th No. 1 album, extending her record for the most among women. She would also tie Jay-Z for the most No. 1s among soloists. The only act with more No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 is The Beatles, with 19.

All 13 of Swift’s full-length studio albums and re-recorded projects from 2008’s Fearless (her second album) through 2023’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) have debuted at No. 1.

CAUSE IM A REAL TOUGH KID I CAN HANDLE MY SHIT THEY SAID BABE YOU GOTTA FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT AND I DID

AND I HOPE IT’S SHITTY IN THE BLACK DOG WHEN SOMEONE PLAYS THE STARTING LINE AND YOU JUMP UP BUT SHE’S TOO YOUNG TO KNOW THIS SONG THAT WAS INTERTWINED IN THE TRAGIC FABRIC OF OUR DREAMING!!!!!

oh my god you hate TTPD? it killed your love of taylor? oh my god. i’m so sorry. here let me take your eras tickets off of your hands i’m so sorry-

idk who needs to hear this but when your english teacher asks you to explain why an author chose to use a specific metaphor or literary device, it’s not because you won’t be able to function in real-world society without the essential knowledge of gatsby’s green light or whatever, it’s because that process develops your abilities to parse a text for meaning and fill in gaps in information by yourself, and if you’re wondering what happens when you DON’T develop an adult level of reading comprehension, look no further than the dizzying array of examples right here on tumblr dot com

this post went from 600 to 2400 notes in the time it took me to write 3 emails. i’m already terrified for what’s going to happen in there

k but also, as an addendum, the reason we study literary analysis is because everything an author writes has meaning, whether it was intentional or not, and their biases and agendas are often reflected in their choice of language and literary devices and so forth! and that ties directly into being able to identify, for example, the racist and antisemitic dogwhistles often employed by the right wing, or the subconscious word choices that can unintentionally illustrate someone’s bias or blind spot. LANGUAGE HAS WEIGHT AND MEANING! the way we communicate is a reflection of our inner selves, and that’s true regardless of whether it’s a short story or a novel or a blog post or a tweet. instead of taking a piece of writing at face value and stopping there, assuming that there is no deeper meaning or thought behind the words on the page, ask yourself these two questions instead:

1. what is the author trying to say? 2. what does the author maybe not realize they’re saying?

because the most interesting reading of any piece of literature, imho, usually occupies the space in between those questions.

Also, sometimes it has hidden meaning relating to how art was funded.  For example, Dickens never met an adjective he didn’t like because he was paid by the word.  Dumas included long and pointless dialogue because he was paid by the line.  Even stuff that was purposely included for dumbass reasons can teach us about the world the author lived in.

i believe there is a direct correlation between how you view and value taylor’s humanity and your reaction to ttpd

a fortnight making ttpd (x)

staff: our april fools joke this year is a silly feature that doesn't really do anything but give you a button to boop other users! they have to opt-in first though :)

me: