Taylor Swift Breaks Two Spotify Records With Showgirl: Encore

Taylor Swift has broken two Spotify records for 2026: most-streamed female artist in a day, and — with lead single "Patient Zero" — most-streamed song by a female artist in a day so far this year.

Both records fell after the midnight release of "The Life of a Showgirl: Encore," an expanded edition of her 2025 album featuring four new songs: "Patient Zero," "Cleveland!," "Pink Clouding" and "Babylon."

The rollout began with hidden clues. During the Emmys telecast, Swift appeared in a "Law & Order: SVU" skit in character as a detective. "I think what we're going to be looking for is hiding in plain sight," she said, before breaking the fourth wall and telling the camera: "Saccharide. Aries. From the vineyard. North or south." Fans quickly decoded the puzzle — the third letter of each word spelled "encore."

This past Tuesday, Swift announced she would release the single "Patient Zero" that week, putting three limited edition CDs of the single on her website. A day later she revealed the fuller plan: the entire "Encore" edition would arrive on Friday with all four new tracks.

On social media, Swift explained why she returned to the 2025 album. "About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind… You gave 'The Life of a Showgirl' the biggest first week for an album in history," she wrote.

She traced the new songs to a celebratory trip. "I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album," she continued. "Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs."

She framed the release as a thank-you. "I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made," Swift wrote. "'The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore' including four new songs is out on Friday and available to pre-order and save now."

Next, Swift will debut the video for "Patient Zero" at this Sunday's MTV VMAs, where she receives the inaugural Artist-Director Award. She previewed the clip Thursday on "CBS Mornings" before sharing it on her social media accounts. The video, shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, stars Swift alongside Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell.

The VMA premiere gives Swift a second high-profile platform in a single weekend, with the Artist-Director Award signaling institutional recognition of her work behind the camera as well as on stage.