Taylor Swift hands Target an exclusive vinyl release of ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ with a lilac marble design, available now for pre-order.
Taylor Swift’s “Taylor Nation” fan page revealed on May 18 that the vinyl for the upcoming re-recording of her 2010 album Speak Now is available for pre-order at Target while supplies last. The vinyl perfectly captures the album’s aesthetic with a lilac-marble color scheme.
Swift revealed during the first of her three shows at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium on May 5 that Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) will arrive on July 7. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) follows Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) as the third re-recorded studio album of her original six.
“I first made Speak Now, completely self-written, between the ages of 18 and 20,” wrote Swift on her Twitter following the announcement. “The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions, and wild wistfulness. I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up flailing, flying, and crashing… and living to speak about it.”
In 2010, Speak Now became the first Taylor Swift album to cross the 1 million sales threshold in its launch week, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 1.047 million copies sold. According to Luminate, Swift’s third album has earned 7.8 million equivalent album units in the U.S. through April 27.
Luminate data revealed in its “Top Entertainment Trends for 2023” report also found that about half of vinyl LP owners do not own a record player. Of 3,900 U.S.-based respondents surveyed, 50 percent of consumers who bought vinyl in the past 12 months own a record player, compared to 15 percent among music listeners overall.
That data indicates that half of the fans buying vinyl appreciate such items’ collectibility and exclusive nature rather than listening to the vinyl format. Since the vast majority of music revenue still comes from streaming services — 84 percent in 2022 — the numbers imply that “superfans” purchasing vinyl are completionist-minded, buying the merch but relegating their listening to playlist-oriented online avenues.