1989 (album)

1989
1989
	Standard North American cover
Studio album by Taylor Swift
Released	October 27, 2014
Studio	Conway Recording (Los Angeles); Jungle City (New York City); Lamby's House (Brooklyn); MXM (Stockholm); Pain in the Art (Nashville); Elevator Nobody (Göteborg); The Hideaway (London);
Genre	Synth-pop
Length	48:41
Label	Big Machine
Producer	Max Martin; Taylor Swift; Shellback; Jack Antonoff; Ryan Tedder; Noel Zancanella; Ali Payami; Nathan Chapman; Imogen Heap; Mattman & Robin;
Taylor Swift chronology
Singles from 1989
	"Shake It Off"; Released: August 19, 2014; "Blank Space"; Released: November 10, 2014; "Style"; Released: February 9, 2015; "Bad Blood"; Released: May 17, 2015; "Wildest Dreams"; Released: August 31, 2015; "Out of the Woods"; Released: January 19, 2016; "New Romantics"; Released: February 23, 2016;

1989 is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, released on October 27, 2014, by Big Machine Records. Inspired by 1980s synth-pop, Swift conceived 1989 to recalibrate her artistry to pop after critics disputed her status as a country musician when she released the cross-genre Red (2012) to country radio. She titled 1989 after her birth year as a symbolic artistic rebirth and enlisted Max Martin, who produced Red's electronic-influenced pop tracks, as co-executive producer.

Swift recorded 1989 at studios across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden with an ensemble including Martin, Shellback, Jack Antonoff, Ryan Tedder, Nathan Chapman, and Imogen Heap. The synth-pop production is characterized by pulsing synthesizers, programmed drum machines, and processed backing vocals with electronic elements, a stark contrast to the acoustic arrangements of Swift's past albums. The songs expand on Swift's autobiographical songwriting and explore failed romance from a lighthearted perspective.

Swift and Big Machine promoted 1989 extensively through tie-ins and media endorsements but withheld the album from free streaming services, which prompted an industry discourse on the impact of streaming.^{[note 1]} To support the album, Swift embarked on the 1989 World Tour, which was the highest-grossing tour of 2015. Among seven singles released, three peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100: "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". 1989 spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard 200 and was certified nine-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has sold over 14 million copies worldwide and was certified multi-platinum in many countries.

When 1989 was first released, music critics generally complimented its production as catchy; they found an emotional engagement in its songwriting but some felt the synth-pop production eroded Swift's artistic integrity—a criticism that journalists and academics retrospectively regarded as rockist. 1989 won Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards, and it was listed in all-time album rankings by Rolling Stone and Consequence. Critics and academics have considered 1989 an album that transformed Swift's status to a pop icon and promoted poptimism, but they also highlighted the media scrutiny that ensued. Following a 2019 dispute regarding the ownership of Swift's back catalog, she re-recorded 1989 and released it as 1989 (Taylor's Version) on October 27, 2023.

^ Cite error: The named reference bbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

[bbc-1] Cite error: The named reference bbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[note 1]