discussion is Taylor the only pop star in recent memory (last 15 years) without a "slump"?

[Timeless]

Everyone saying Speak Now was a slump when it was literally her first album to debut with 1 million sales and she won 2 Grammys during that era 

[C_Colstead]

She was arguably beginning to wane commercially before folklore/evermore, so I'd say Lover is her slump era. 

[wish]

Reputation & Lover were definitely "slumps" in the context of her career and public image. Successful albums for sure, but still slumps.

[byzantium]

It’s all relative.  I would make the argument that Beyoncé, Ariana, Rihanna, and even Selena Gomez have not had “slumps”.  The difference for all of them is their baseline for selling records is different.  For Taylor Swift, Rep. and Lover were “slumps” despite both being two of the biggest albums of their year only because they were not on the level of Red or 1989.  Similarly, Rihanna had Rated R, Beyoncé had 4, and Ariana had Dangerous Woman and positions. But all those eras were still quite successful overall.  

[Bears01]

SN felt like a complete slump in hindsight, her celebrity wasn’t as big as it was during “fearless”, no notable songs among the GP (enchanted I guess you can say now is), and she was insanely local. 
 

But yeah, other than that, she’s been pretty much consistently smashing more than any artist in recent history has 

[Buffy]

I was going to say Lover…. until its global stability and resurgence over the years. Clearly it was never a slump period. Unlike her other albums which usually get consumed right away, Lover had to take time to age like wine. Now it’s ripe and stepping on throats with its heels. 

[Brikenbur]

I can only recall some of reputation’s singles being considered a “slump” to some degree at the time…

“End Game” peaked at No. 16(?) and “…Ready for It?” came and went at No. 4. “Delicate” was really the only hit to some degree thanks to radio in the U.S. 

But, an album selling over a million in its first week isn’t necessarily a “slump” so no but I would like 2018 Taylor’s take 

 

[byzantium]

43 minutes ago, Timeless said:

Everyone saying Speak Now was a slump when it was literally her first album to debut with 1 million sales and she won 2 Grammys during that era 

Because it was.  It was her lowest selling album in the US in her first decade.  

[Feanor]

Only in relative terms.

[Miles.]

Lover was a minor slump commercially and a major slump artistically.  Thankfully she rebounded quickly  

[Blackout2006]

Fearless-Speak Now 

1989- Reputation- Lover

[makeme]

Janet Jackson had a great 15 years from 1986-2001

Edited October 31, 2023 by makeme

[PinkLamborghini]

Hikaru Utada never misses. 

 

Namie Amuro too, but she's retired. 

[tiagol88]

People calling an album that debuted at over 800k a slump. Wasn’t that the best selling album of the year? 
 

She never had a slump lmao

[Frozen99]

she only does enchanted from SN so that already was a slump but the album still managed to clear 1M+ debut.. so it's relative. she's definitely one of the most consistent artists ever.

[Year of Shadow]

Speak Now

Reputation

Lover

Evermore

 

Did worse than their predecessor albums. 2016-2019 as a whole was a mess between snake and Me! drama. Her entire image was broken for those 3 years.