Taylor Swift is celebrating the record-breaking success of her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, by sharing a heartfelt message to her fans.
Taking to Instagram on Monday, October 13, the 35-year-old singer reflected on her journey from her teenage debut to one of the biggest artists in the world.
“I’ll never forget how excited I was in 2006 when my first album sold 40,000 copies in its first week,” she wrote.
“I was 16 and couldn’t even fathom that that many people would care enough about my music to invest their time and energy into it.”
Swift went on to share that gratitude has always guided her throughout her career.
“Since then I’ve tried to meet and thank as many people as I could who have given me the chance to chase this insane dream,” she continued.
“Here we are all these years later and a hundred times that many people showed up for me this week. I have 4 million thank you’s I want to send to the fans, and 4 million reasons to feel even more proud of this album than I already was.”
Her latest project, The Life of a Showgirl, released on October 3, shattered multiple records upon its debut.
The album became the most-streamed album in a single day on Spotify and earned the biggest single-week album sales in the United States — a feat that Swift described as “unreal.”
“Thank you for going out to celebrate this project in the movie theaters, investing in vinyl, streaming, watching the video, buying CDs, reading the poems I wrote inside the packaging, and immersing yourselves in The Life of a Showgirl,” she added.
“I’ll cherish this feeling forever. Just wow. Thank you for the lovely bouquet.”
Swift, who created much of the album while performing on her massive Eras Tour, has previously shared how meaningful the record is to her.
Speaking during an October appearance on Audacy Check In, she said, “[I’m] trying to soak in this moment I feel of pride and joy for what I made. I don’t necessarily know if I’ve ever been so happy about a record before.”
She admitted that this release felt different from her past ones, saying, “It’s kind of a foreign feeling for me to feel so joyful because usually there’s just a lot of stress in an album release week. This week, I just feel very uncomplicated feelings about this record. That’s new. So I’m like, ‘Let’s just ride out this feeling for a second.’”
With The Life of a Showgirl, Swift’s gratitude and connection with her fans shine through, a full-circle moment for the artist who began her journey nearly two decades ago with just a guitar and a dream.