If 2014's gleaming 1989 marked Taylor Swift's official parting of ways with her country-esque roots and her emergence as a pop superstar, 2023's "Taylor's Version" of the same solidified her place as probably the biggest musical phenomenon to strike the planet since Thriller-era Michael Jackson.

One in four vinyl records sold in 2023 was a Taylor Swift record (up from one in five the previous year), not least because of Swift's sage business decision to issue her version of 1989 in half-a-dozen differently coloured and differently sequenced vinyl. But it's also tough to argue with the general quality of the polished synth-pop ear candy on offer here -- ear candy that manages to sound fresh again in sessions that found Swift and frequent producer/collaborators Jack Antonoff and Christopher Rowe doing their best to stay faithful to the original versions but also injecting fresh energy into the material. 

Expanded versions of the album also include new recordings of "Sweeter than Fiction" from the One Chance movie soundtrack in 2013 and a remix of "Bad Blood" from 2015 featuring Kendrick Lamar. In the United States, it became Taylor Swift's 13th album to hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart and her sixth to sell over one million copies in its first week, setting a new record. The gal knows how to move units.