Taylor Swift announced her most recent album on February 4, 2024 at the Grammy awards. She also revealed the name of the album on stage during her acceptance speech for album of the year: Tortured Poets Department. But did this announcement actually make the poets happy? In other words, did it spark an interest in poetry for Swifties in Canada and was that reflected in sales or library circulation? Let’s find out with the help of our SalesData and LibraryData services.
Poetry sales in Canada
First up, sales. The Non-Fiction / Poetry category got off to an up and down start in 2024 and sales of Poetry titles did not pick up immediately after the album announcement. It wasn’t until the beginning of March that the Poetry category saw a sustained trend upwards. But overall, Poetry sales rose 12% from the week ending February 4 to the week ending April 21.
Poetry performance in libraries
Loans of Poetry titles have shown a much more pronounced trend upwards — a 92% increase since the Grammys on February 4 to the week ending April 14. Perhaps more Swifties use the library?
But titles can only be loaned out as much as there are copies, so what’s a Swiftie to do if the volume they want is already checked out? Put a hold on it, of course. So let’s see what happened with holds in libraries across Canada.
Also on the rise! Holds for the Poetry category were up 63% from the Grammy’s on February 4 to the week ending April 14.
Top selling and circulated Poetry titles
So what are the top Poetry titles in terms of sales and circulation? Well, they’re not the ones referenced by Taylor, but Swifties weren’t to know which poets she was referring to until they got their first listen to the album when it released on April 19.
Top borrowed
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur 🍁
The Iliad by Homer
Home Body by Rupi Kaur 🍁
The Odyssey by Homer
Dearly by Margaret Atwood 🍁
Top selling
The Way Forward by yung pueblo
A Gentle Reminder by Bianca Sparacino 🍁
A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje 🍁
Devotions by Mary Oliver
Healing Through Words by Rupi Kaur 🍁
Can this increase in Poetry interest be attributed to Taylor Swift fans or was it all an unrelated coincidence? Perhaps we’ll never know. But seeing the Taylor Swift effect on every other industry she mentions it’s at least plausible the fans are reading more poetry.
The BISAC to Thema translator has been updated.