How Taylor Swift Is Manipulating The System To Top The Billboard Charts

Love her or hate her, Swiftie or not, there’s no denying that Taylor Swift and her team know what they’re doing.

You don’t stay at the forefront of the public conscious for as long as Swift has without having a plan.

Swift’s latest plan, however, may just be her best one yet.

The pop superstar and Travis Kelce’s new boo currently occupies all four of the top four spots on the US iTunes chart.

But here’s the catch (in addition to being amazed that iTunes still exists), each of the spots are occupied by a different version of the song “Cruel Summer.”

The first spot goes to the singles version. Then the live version from the The Eras Tour, followed by the album version and finally the LP Giobbi remix of the song.

But wait, there’s more!

Because that alone doesn’t sound like a master plan, let’s explain Swift’s genius.

In June, Billboard stopped including song downloads from an artist’s webpage toward the Hot 100 chart.

This is because those sites operate with fewer restrictions than an entity such as iTunes or Amazon Music.

But Swift and company had a plan.

Rather than allowing purchases directly from the web store, Swift’s officially web page now redirects fans to the iTunes store instead when they click purchase or download.

This ensures that the purchase counts toward the charts, pushing her up the rankings.

While it may seem like genius marketing for Swift, not everybody loves it.

Take, for example, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry.

“‘Funflation,’ Taylor Swift… those experiences are really where people are willing to pay, means the bigger ticket items in electronics are not right now where people are interested,” Barry recently said when explaining why her company was struggling.

Sorry Corie. This is Taylor Swift’s world. You just have to learn to live in it.