Commentary: How did Taylor Swift become so popular? She never goes out of style

For the upcoming 1989 release (Taylor’s Version), Swift submitted a series of puzzles to Google for fans to solve together to reveal the names of future vault tracks.

Swifties collectively solved 33 million (yes, that’s a million) puzzles in less than 24 hours. The games played a dual role: Not only did Swift announce the names of the vault’s tracks, but she also reinstated her Google searches in the process.

Swift’s fandom crosses generations. She’s the quintessential millennial, and many of Swift’s fans have grown up with her over the past two decades. Some have even started bringing their children to concerts, posting videos of them sitting on the Long Live Bridge.

She’s also found a younger audience on TikTok, a platform predominantly used by Gen Z. Affectionately nicknamed “SwiftTok” by fans (and now Swift herself), users post videos to connect with other Swifties and engage in the community.

Swift’s songs are often used in popular movements. Last year’s Midnights release featured a lot of dancing to Bejeweled and Karma, but Swift’s back catalog also did well. A remix of Love Story went viral in 2020, helping a new generation discover her old music. More recently, her song “August” has been used for running on the beach and riding with her pets.

She is also closely associated with youth shows such as The Summer I Became Beautiful, which featured 13 of her songs over the show’s first two seasons. Swift’s music is so important to the story that author Jenny Han almost dedicated a second book to her.

Swift continues to dominate the cultural conversation through her music, business decisions and legions of devoted fans.

With Swift’s popularity currently at an all-time high, it’s easy to dismiss the hype as a passing trend. But if these first 17 years are any indication, Swift has proven that she’s in it for the long haul and worthy of our time.

Kate Pattison is a PhD candidate at RMIT University. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.