Taylor Swift - 1989 Album
Taylor Swift - 1989

1989 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 27, 2014, through Big Machine Records. Swift began preparing for the album during the same year that Red was released, and during a significant amount of media scrutiny. Over the course of the two-year songwriting period, she primarily collaborated with producers Max Martin and Shellback—Martin served as the album's executive producer alongside Swift. The album's title was inspired by the pop-music scene of the 1980s, particularly Swift's birth year.

The album represents a sonic departure from the country music of her previous albums, and is described by Swift as her "first documented official pop album." In contrast to Swift's previous work, the production of 1989 consists of drum programming, synthesizers, pulsating bass, processed backing vocals, and guitars. 1989 received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics and it was ranked as one of the best albums of 2014 by numerous publications, including Time, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork Media.

After debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, 1989 sold 1.287 million copies during the first week of release. The total U.S. sales figure from the debut week of 1989 was the highest since 2002, and made Swift the first artist to sell one million or more copies of an album in a week-long period for three albums. 1989 eventually became the best-selling album of 2014 in the U.S. market and has sold over 5.124 million copies as of August 2015, while 8.6 million worldwide. Five singles have been released from the set: "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, while "Style" peaked at number six and "Wildest Dreams" at number eight.