If there’s one thing Taylor Swift will do, it’s surprise her fans with something new. That was certainly the case when the superstar dropped not one, but two new albums, The Tortured Poets Department and its surprise companion The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. And if that wasn’t enough, we’re also getting the music video for the album’s lead single, Fortnight, featuring Post Malone, on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
In total, Swifties got 31 new songs on streaming last night, including the four bonus tracks that were previously exclusive to the CD variant editions of the record. Swift described the album on her Instagram as a reflection of “a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time — one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.” The album’s already breaking records — it’s the most streamed album in a single day for 2024, Billboard reports.
Read more: Apple Music vs. Spotify: How to Decide
Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department after winning her 14th Grammy award in February. Since the album’s announcement, Swift unveiled four variants of The Tortured Poets Department during the most recent leg of The Eras Tour. Additionally, a mysterious YouTube Short was posted to Taylor’s account, encouraging fans to join the “For a Fortnight Challenge.”
Here’s everything you need to know about listening to The Tortured Poets Department. We’ll keep updating this story with any last-minute announcements and surprises that Swift undoubtedly has in store. For more, here’s how to stream The Eras Tour concert film and best music streaming services of 2024.
How to stream Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department
You’ll be able to stream The Tortured Poets Department on your streaming service of choice. Both Spotify and Apple Music subscribers are currently able to stream The Tortured Poets Department, as well as YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Pandora and Tidal.
Additionally, fans can stream The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology on their streaming service of choice. TTPD: The Anthology contains all 31 songs that Swift released early this morning. You can see all the options at Swift’s link tree here.
Tracks and collaborators on The Tortured Poets Department
The Tortured Poets Department has 16 brand-new songs and four variant-specific bonus tracks. Post Malone and Florence & The Machine both appear on the album, and Swift teamed up with long-time friend Jack Antonoff and recent collaborator Aaron Dessner on her latest record.
This record has several solo writing credits for Swift. My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys and Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me were both penned solely by the superstar. With the release of TTPD: The Anthology, Swift adds The Black Dog, imgonnagetyouback, Peter and The Manuscript to her solo songwriting credits.
The standard tracklist for the album is as follows:
- Fortnight (featuring Post Malone)
- The Tortured Poets Department
- My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
- Down Bad
- So Long, London
- But Daddy I Love Him
- Fresh Out the Slammer
- Florida!!! (featuring Florence & The Machine)
- Guilty as Sin?
- Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
- I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
- loml
- I Can Do It with a Broken Heart
- The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
- The Alchemy
- Clara Bow
- The Black Dog
- imgonnagetyouback
- The Albatross
- Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
- How Did It End?
- So High School
- I Hate It Here
- thanK you aIMee
- I Look in People’s Windows
- The Prophecy
- Cassandra
- Peter
- The Bolter
- Robin
- The Manuscript
The first 16 songs were expected as part of the release of The Tortured Poets, but at 2 a.m. on April 19, Swift surprised fans with a double album release. Songs 17 through 31 make up the second half of The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.
How to find The Tortured Poets Department on CD and vinyl
There are four confirmed variant editions of TTPD, named after the bonus track each will include: The Bolter, The Albatross, The Black Dog and The Manuscript. While the variants are available for sale on Swift’s website, fans can also find them at Target. These do not include the extra 15 songs included in TTPD: The Anthology.
The majority of the variant editions are available as CDs, including The Bolter, The Albatross and The Black Dog. The fourth variant edition, named after the bonus song The Manuscript, is available as a CD and on vinyl in phantom clear or ghost white colors only at Target. Swift also held preorders for vinyl bundles of the other variant editions (The Bolter, The Albatross and The Black Dog) that included a deluxe CD and cassette, but those were only available until April 12.
In every social media post that Taylor Swift has made, she includes the same preorder link, which includes other retailers besides her website and Target, like Barnes & Noble. At Target, you can buy each CD individually for $14, and The Manuscript vinyl is $46. There is not currently a place where you can find all four of the bonus songs on the same CD, which is why completists and collectors ought to be prepared to drop some cash.
How do I stream bonus songs and The Tortured Poets Anthology?
Good news: As part of the 2 a.m. double album release, the four confirmed bonus songs are included in TTPD: The Anthology. So now you don’t need to buy each of the four variant editions on CD and vinyl to listen to The Bolter, The Albatross, The Black Dog and The Manuscript. TTPD: The Anthology is available wherever you stream music.
The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology has yet to see a physical release, though there is a digital download available for $15 on Swift’s website. So fans and collectors will still need to buy the variant physical copies of the album if you want to hear the four bonus tracks. We’ll update this story if Swift releases a physical version of TTPD: The Anthology. You may hear clips of the album on TikTok as Swift recently agreed to allow some of her songs back on the app.
This isn’t how Swift has previously handled bonus song releases. With her last original album Midnights in 2022, she dropped songs in stages: the original album, a 3 a.m. release with seven more songs, then haphazardly released singles on CD and vinyl. There are three versions of the album on streaming, but there still isn’t one central album — on streaming, CD or vinyl — where you can listen to all of the songs from the Midnights era. So it’s safe to say that Swift took the shorter route this tiime.
What to know about the alleged leak of The Tortured Poets Department
On April 18, just a day before the album was due to drop, the BBC reported that there had allegedly been a leak of Swift’s latest album. The leak has not been confirmed or denied by Swift’s camp, but fans online have encouraged one another not to listen to the new album until the official release by Swift. In addition, X (formerly Twitter) has banned searches for “Taylor Swift leak” much like the platform did when AI-generated explicit images of Swift circulated earlier this year.
While some fans online claimed to have listened to the leak, we recommend that you stream the album on Spotify or Apple. Not Clicking on links advertising a leaked copy of the album might not be safe. Bad actors are likely to capitalize on fans’ excitement for the album, and those links could potentially be dangerous viruses or explicit content.
For more, check out why one Swiftie won’t be streaming the Eras Tour film and the best headphones for 2024.
