Looking only through a commercial success lens, we all know how her career went, Born To Die was a huge success, everything after wasn't, however something changed in 2023, Ocean Blvd was far from being a smash album at first, though it was a huge upgrade from her 2 2021 albums, however after this album release her career seemed to get a huge revival, her songs started gaining insane streams, her pure sales skyrocketed, she was able to sell out stadiums in minutes, and she even managed to crack the IFPI top 10 best selling artists of the year, not a single pre streaming era female artist other than Taylor, Adele and Ariana managed to do that this decade.

 

How exactly did this happen? Someone who only 3 years ago was not far from being on Melanie Martinez level commercially ended up as becoming one of the biggest female artists period. Even among pop artists that used to crush her in terms of sales and hits have fallen behind her in relevancy.

Talent. Point blank period 

Releasing consistently about every 18 months for most of her career has been a major growth driver for her, now that the TikTok era is in full effect. She has so many available songs (and even unreleased tracks) that can explode in popularity at any random time, constantly exposing her to new people who then have a huge backlog of content they can binge. A lot of her peers just didn't release content as often, so there's simply fewer chances available for them to have a viral hit off their back catalogue.

The resurgence of her Lizzy/Early Lana demo's and Lizzy/BTD aesthetic on Tiktok. She's truly the Tiktok queen. Hate to be that girl but really, I wish she would release more of her pre fame Pop songs on streaming platforms or revamp them. She mentioned after LFL that Max was a genius she was going to work with again really soon but never did.... imagine she released her FLAWLESS pop melodies (Pale Moonlight. Queen of Disaster.Prom Song ect.) and lyrics with a Max production. A girl can dream

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by noise
Edit: All those songs still sound so fresh and crisp over a decade later

People love a Lolita Tradwife I fear.

She makes timeless music instead of trend hopping.

I know Ethel Cain has 2 diamond albums and 15 Grammys but Lana is that once in a lifetime talent whose impact can never be matched. 

She's basically a nostalgia act. Her biggest albums are her first 3 albums. Gen z literally likes to live in the past. 

Voice of an angel, no bad albums, classic hits and masterpiece deepcuts

7 minutes ago, Onyxmage said:

She's basically a nostalgia act. Her biggest albums are her first 3 albums. Gen z literally likes to live in the past. 

Damn Lana ONLY has 3 classic albums that are trending. How pitiful!

36 minutes ago, Rhyme said:

Damn Lana ONLY has 3 classic albums that are trending. How pitiful!

And not everyone has that! Too bad her latest music so bland and forgettable.

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by Onyxmage

1 hour ago, Onyxmage said:

She's basically a nostalgia act. Her biggest albums are her first 3 albums. Gen z literally likes to live in the past. 

You just dont get it dont you? Her music is timeless and will always get there with time. Eventually all of her music will find their place.

talent, intelligence, beauty

2 hours ago, Onyxmage said:

She's basically a nostalgia act. Her biggest albums are her first 3 albums. Gen z literally likes to live in the past. 

This. I really like Lana but let's not pretend her discography until L4L isn't doing the groundwork nn

1 hour ago, duybeeGAshantiGA said:

You just dont get it dont you? Her music is timeless and will always get there with time. Eventually all of her music will find their place.

Actually you don't get it. Her first 3 albums (also NFR) are timeless but after that her albums became a bore and forgettable. Her old albums can only sustain her for so long. I can see her streaming stats crater when gen z finally gets tired of living in the past unless she changes it up which she certainly has the talent and ability to do. With that being said I'm pretty sure Lana could care less and is happy with the music she's releasing so that's good for her I guess.

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by Onyxmage

What do you mean everything after BTD wasn't a success? Norman ******* Rockwell was. 
 

And reason she had a major surge in popularity around 2022 when her demo's and older songs blew up on tiktok and more of the youth got into her discography. Wild to put her on the same level as Melanie. Lol

7 minutes ago, Gorjesspazze9 said:

What do you mean everything after BTD wasn't a success? Norman ******* Rockwell was. 
 

And reason she had a major surge in popularity around 2022 when her demo's and older songs blew up on tiktok and more of the youth got into her discography. Wild to put her on the same level as Melanie. Lol

i've read it all today... some people just love being loud and wrong on the internet and then tell us we are the ones who don't get Lana and she is some nostalgia act  my god the vibe theories have never been stronger we really just don't care about facts or stats anymore

Lana was and is her generation's archetype of an artist who brings the tempo back down whilst also coming from the flip-side of the zeitgeist. She is the gateway through which many artists after her followed.

Her lore is the most important factor in her success, the high rate of release comes second. And the mix of both is the perfect match for having a loyal fanbase that enjoys and shares her music in a way that attracts many other people throughout the years.

 

Her fanbase won't go crazy over making sure she sells the most or defending her from her messy actions like they are going to war, but they interact with her music by making edits, sharing her unreleased music, etc, and this creates community, which is the key factor towards having a strong fanbase, like Taylor.

 

 

A&W saved her career, commercially and critically, that's a fact.

7 hours ago, Amethyst said:

Her lore is the most important factor in her success, the high rate of release comes second. And the mix of both is the perfect match for having a loyal fanbase that enjoys and shares her music in a way that attracts many other people throughout the years.

 

Her fanbase won't go crazy over making sure she sells the most or defending her from her messy actions like they are going to war, but they interact with her music by making edits, sharing her unreleased music, etc, and this creates community, which is the key factor towards having a strong fanbase, like Taylor.

 

 

This this this! 

Lana's career began in 2010-2012, artists who were in the indie era of the 10s mostly became popular through the Internet and without radio or tv shows like the common pop stars of that time.

 

Born To Die was really successful in 2012-2014 but thanks to the Internet becoming massive year after year the album and her career had a great boost in this decade (2022/2023). 

 

You have to consider that music these days is more personal and Lana fits perfectly with this feeling today, I don't feel that Lana is a "nostalgia act" considering that her music was never made to be sold as Pop to be played for a couple of years on the radio (compared to Katy, Meghan, Kesha, etc.)

 

PS: It's true that BTD (debut) is her biggest album but overall her other albums UV and NFR! are doing okay.