Taylor Swift tops IFPI in 2019 sounds familiar

Taylor Swift is still the one. This is according to IFPI, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the trade organization that represents the recorded music industry around the world. Yes, despite the rampaging and I must say surprising arrival of those talented and very young upstarts like Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish, it was still Swiftie who topped the music charts in 2019.

Figures were not made available with the announcement but IFPI ranks its choices based on the accurate measure of global recorded music consumption across all formats. That means sales of digital and physical albums, CDs and vinyl LPs and singles, and on all streaming channels. It is weighted based on the relative value of each method of consumption. Therefore, to us, music fans, that means that lFPI has the most accurate sales reports of all.

Taylor’s latest accomplishment is due to the release of her seventh studio album Lover in the summer of 2019. Lover had over three million album and album equivalent sales worldwide on its first week out in the market. The record has so far produced three big hit singles, Me! featuring Brandon Urie, frontman of Panic! at the Disco, followed by You Need to Calm Down and then Lover. Expected to follow suit soon as a hit is the perky pop ditty The Man.

Yes. Taylor Swift is the man. Recently uploaded on the web was the music video of the fourth single from Lover, The Man. This certainly makes one think about ower. The video was written and directed by Taylor. It is owned by Taylor and also stars Taylor. You did not see Taylor in the video? Your eyes are not playing tricks on you. She is in the video but then Taylor is also not in the video. It is because that is Taylor playing the role of The Man.

The video is about this obnoxious fellow who is named Tyler Swift, who is and who does all those wrong things that men feel they are entitled to do. You know like sitting with his legs wide apart in a crowded train, smoking a smelly cigar and scattering ashes all over, peeing against walls on the street, surrounding himself with bikini-clad cuties while sailing on a yacht, etc.

Taylor probably thought of behavior she could not stand from a man and then wrote them down on her script and then directed Tyler Swift in the video. The catch here is Tyler Swift is played by Taylor Swift herself who thanks to prosthetics and clever make-up, certainly does a very good job. She reminded me of the Wolf of Wall Street movie although Leonardo DiCaprio is cuter.

The bottom line to the whole thing though is that while she took swipes at the wrong things about being a man, she was in the time-established, but also we have now realized, all wrong position of being The Man and wielding immense power as owner, director, etc. of the video. But what can you expect? She is Taylor Swift and she has power.

Lover still has several cuts that would make excellent singles should Taylor decide not to record new materials yet. These are I Forgot that You Existed, Cruel Summer, The Archer, I Think He Knows, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince, Paper Rings, Cornelia Street, Death by a Thousand Cuts, London Boy, Soon I’ll Get Better, False God, Afterglow, It’s Nice to Have a Friend and Daylight.

Meanwhile, back to the IFPI. Joining Taylor in the Top 10 Global Recording Artists of 2019 listing is Ed Sheeran, for his No. 6 Collaborations Project featuring various artists and with the big hit single I Don’t Care with Justin Bieber. In third place is Post Malone for his album Hollywood’s Bleeding and for the remarkable showing of the single Sunflower featuring Swae Lee from the soundtrack of SpiderMan into the Spiderverse.

Also in the IFPI list are Billie Eilish, Queen, Ariana Grande, BTS, Drake, Lady Gaga and The Beatles. This is Taylor’s second time to top the IFPI Awards. She was also the recipient in 2014. Others who have been similarly honored are Drake in 2018; Ed Sheeran, 2017; Drake, 2016; Adele, 2015; and One Direction, 2013.