1989 Taylor's Version Deluxe CDs Sell Out in a Day

News

By RC Staff

18 August 2023

Taylor Swift is continuing her quest to take back control of her music, announcing on August 9 that a re-recording of her album “1989” is in the works. This was followed up by a raft of options to buy the album when it drops it October. Vinyl, cassette, digital, and yes, even CDs. In addition to the various different pastel options, there was also a limited, deluxe edition of “1989: Taylor’s Version” sold at the same time. When the sales link went up, it was advertised that the CDs would only be available for 89 hours. As it turns out, they were up for much less time than that.

What is 1989 Taylor's Version?

If you haven’t been keeping up with the pop star in the last few years, you might not understand why she’s redoing her album from 2013. The upcoming “1989: Taylor’s Version” will be her fourth re-recording of her earliest records, which she first started doing in 2021.

Without getting too deep into it, Taylor Swift lost the rights to her master recordings in 2018, when they were sold to music executive and Swift’s nemesis Scooter Braun. The feud runs deep, with allegations of misogyny, greed, and collusion with Kanye West being thrown around.

Rather than roll over and accept it, she chose to completely re-record the albums affected, and gain control back over them. So, that’s why there’s a new version of “1989” coming, and why people are talking about it.

1989 Taylor's Version Variants

Also, it turns out that re-releasing your album from 2013 on a variety of different media is a good way to make a shitload of money. Swift’s recent releases of “Folklore” and “Midnights” were noted for their excessive variation, where the album was sold in different formats, colors, and editions. Collectors and the obsessed like to pick up as many options as possible, turning a $10 record into a $100 sale.

It seems like that’s the way “1989: Taylor’s Version” is going as well. As of now, there have been nine different variants of the record sold thus far, counting different colors and options.

Not that we have any issue with that. Here at RC, we’re never going to hate on someone for making a bag. Keep it up Taylor, because you’re also making money for resellers. We’ve covered her recent “Midnights” CDs, and also a special “Lover” vinyl in the past. In both cases, fans paid tons to get their hands on these limited edition releases.

So, when Swift announced that “1989” would be getting a special edition CD, resellers sat up and took notice.

1989 Taylor's Version CD Resells

For the truly devoted Swiftie, what other option is there but the most exclusive, most limited, most deluxe variant? For “1989: Taylor’s Version” fans were able to buy a special CD in FOUR different colors: “Crystal Skies”, “Rose Garden”, “Aquamarine Green”, and “Boulevard Yellow”. Evocative!

Sales for “1989: Taylor’s Version” Deluxe CDs opened on August 10, and would be up for 89 hours. Customers were limited to four per order. If you know anything about Taylor Swift fans, 89 hours was entirely too optimistic. These CDs were sold out much, much faster.

240,000 CDs in under 24 hours. Pretty much par for the course for Swift fans. Of course, the story doesn’t end there. Now that the CDs were sold out, it didn’t take long for an aftermarket to emerge.

Many resellers were able to get in on the initial drop, and have made huge profits by flipping CDs. Right now, the average price for a “1989: Taylor’s Version” Deluxe CD is around $50, with lots of all four colors reselling for upwards of $300. These retailed for $15.

As always, a big thanks to Taylor Swift. You didn’t have to produce a limited edition re-release of your 2013 album. You didn’t have to make it in four different, collectable colors. You didn’t have to induce FOMO with a literal timer counting down the hours until the sale closed. But you did, and you did it for us: the humble resellers making a buck off your fans.

Subscribe to our newsletter if you want to learn more. New releases, past flips, whatever it is, as long as there’s an opportunity for resellers to profit, we talk about it.