The Tortured Poets Department

It's rare for an artist to still reach new milestones nearly 20 years into their career, but Taylor Swift released her 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department, in April 2024 and it became one of her biggest. Shrouded in mystery and surprise, the 31-song tome set streaming, sales, and chart records only Swift could break. Tortured Poets stayed No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 12 consecutive weeks, the first female album to hit that achievement and Swift's longest No. 1 run ever (well, so far). Again she proves she's her only competition.

If there’s one thing Taylor Swift can do for her fans, it’s make them feel every emotion under the sun. We were surprised when she announced her new album The Tortured Poets Department while accepting her latest Grammy win. We were flabbergasted when the album turned into a double album just hours after its release. And then we felt everything while listening to the treasure trove of 31 amazing songs. For Swifties, TTPD combines feelings of catharsis and self-reflection in its storytelling, with the overwhelming celebration of its dominating chart performance.

In 10 years, Taylor Swift will have probably released a few more albums that have continued to break records and become part of the Swiftie lexicon. But we will always remember The Tortured Poets Department as the unexpected masterpiece that shattered records and became another creative and commercial achievement for an artist who’s been in her prime since the day she debuted in 2006. It’s the most successful album of 2024 by far, in numbers and in cultural impact. While the tome might not contain the music legend’s biggest hits, this body of work means something special to us fans that we’ll never forget.