Red is the fourth studio album by American singer Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012 through Big Machine Records, as the follow-up to her commercially successful 2010 album Speak Now. It was announced through Swift's live webchat on August 13, 2012, in which she revealed the album title and album cover, and answered fan questions. Four promotional singles were released in the month leading up to the album release, three of which debuted inside the top ten of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The album features collaborations with new producers and guest artists such as Gary Lightbody and Ed Sheeran, and sees Swift experimenting with new musical genres.
The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", was a worldwide commercial success, topping the iTunes charts all over the world and selling 623,000 copies in the first week, becoming Swift's first ever Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper after vaulting from 72 to number one and staying atop for three weeks. The second single, "Begin Again", was released on October 1. "I Knew You Were Trouble" was released as the third official single (promoted, like "Begin Again", from promotional single status) on November 27, 2012, becoming one of Swift's highest charting singles in both the UK and the US. "22" will be released as the fourth single from the album in March 2013.
Red has also spawned three other promotional singles, all of which reached top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Red has been mostly acclaimed by music critics, who praised Swift's versatility as a musician and enjoyed her experiments with new music genres. Red sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, the second-highest debut for a female artist, behind Oops!... I Did It Again by Britney Spears. Red is also Swift's first chart-topper in the U.K., and also topped the album charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The album sold 1.89 million copies in its first three weeks, surpassing One Direction's Up All Night as the second biggest-selling album of the year in the U.S.Red is the fourth studio album by American singer Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012 through Big Machine Records, as the follow-up to her commercially successful 2010 album Speak Now. It was announced through Swift's live webchat on August 13, 2012, in which she revealed the album title and album cover, and answered fan questions. Four promotional singles were released in the month leading up to the album release, three of which debuted inside the top ten of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The album features collaborations with new producers and guest artists such as Gary Lightbody and Ed Sheeran, and sees Swift experimenting with new musical genres.
The album's lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", was a worldwide commercial success, topping the iTunes charts all over the world and selling 623,000 copies in the first week, becoming Swift's first ever Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper after vaulting from 72 to number one and staying atop for three weeks. The second single, "Begin Again", was released on October 1. "I Knew You Were Trouble" was released as the third official single (promoted, like "Begin Again", from promotional single status) on November 27, 2012, becoming one of Swift's highest charting singles in both the UK and the US. "22" will be released as the fourth single from the album in March 2013.
Red has also spawned three other promotional singles, all of which reached top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Red has been mostly acclaimed by music critics, who praised Swift's versatility as a musician and enjoyed her experiments with new music genres. Red sold 1,208,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, the second-highest debut for a female artist, behind Oops!... I Did It Again by Britney Spears. Red is also Swift's first chart-topper in the U.K., and also topped the album charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. The album sold 1.89 million copies in its first three weeks, surpassing One Direction's Up All Night as the second biggest-selling album of the year in the U.S.false2025-11-07 20:34:07Red20122012-10-242012-10-2490Contemporary CountryCountryCountry PopHeartland RockPopPop RockSinger-Songwriter1113522125627a56794cc-f853-4689-8276-ac411f72233620244d07-534f-4eff-b4d4-930878889970a73cecde-0923-40ad-aad1-e8c24ba6c3d2/media/data/media5/Music/Taylor Swift/Red/folder.jpgTaylor SwiftTaylor SwiftTaylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her narrative songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and widespread media coverage. Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed a songwriting contract with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004 and a recording deal with Big Machine Records in 2005, and released her eponymous debut studio album in 2006.
Swift explored country pop on the albums Fearless (2008) and Speak Now (2010); the success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" on both country and pop radio established her as a leading crossover artist. She experimented with rock and electronic genres on her fourth studio album, Red (2012), supported by the singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble". Swift eschewed country on her synth-pop album 1989 (2014) and its chart-topping tracks "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". The media scrutiny on Swift's life inspired Reputation (2017), which drew from urban sounds. Led by "Look What You Made Me Do", the album made Swift the only act in MRC Data history to have four albums each sell over a million copies in a week.
Parting ways with Big Machine, Swift signed with Republic Records in 2018 and released her seventh studio album, Lover (2019). Inspired by escapism during the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift ventured into indie folk and alternative rock styles on her 2020 studio albums, Folklore and Evermore, receiving plaudits for their nuanced storytelling. Following a dispute over the masters of her back catalog, she released the 2021 re-recordings Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) to universal acclaim. The number-one songs "Cardigan", "Willow" and "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" made Swift the only act to simultaneously debut atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts three times. Besides music, she has played supporting roles in films such as Valentine's Day (2010) and Cats (2019), released the autobiographical documentary Miss Americana (2020), and directed the musical films Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (2020) and All Too Well: The Short Film (2021).
Having sold over 200 million records worldwide, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Eight of her songs have topped the Hot 100, and her concert tours are some of the highest-grossing in history. She has received 11 Grammy Awards (including three Album of the Year wins), an Emmy Award, 34 American Music Awards (the most for an artist), 29 Billboard Music Awards (the most for a woman) and 58 Guinness World Records, among other accolades. She has featured on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015), Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists (2019), the Time 100 and Forbes Celebrity 100 rankings. Named Woman of the 2010s Decade by Billboard and Artist of the 2010s Decade by the American Music Awards, Swift has been regarded as a pop icon due to her influential career, philanthropy, and advocacy of artists' rights and women's empowerment in the music industry.