On Sunday, Billboard announced that Taylor Swift’s re-recorded album, Fearless (2008) reached number on the Billboard 200 charts after it’s initial re-release on April 9.

Back in February 2021, Swift announced the official release date of her re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version) along with dropping her re-recorded single Love Story 24 hours after the announcement. The evening before the album launch date, Swift released teasers of re-recorded songs like You Belong with Me via TikToks that musicians Conan Gray and Olivia Rodrigo created. Swift has affectionately referred to Gray and Rodrigo as her children in the past.

Her album release was preluded by her dropping a new single, Mr. Perfectly Fine, 24 hours prior to the release of the album. The single was one of six new songs that Swift had written when Fearless was first recorded back in 2008 but had not been released before.

Swift first announced her intention to re-record her initial six albums back in 2019, when her former record label, Big Machine Records, and its holdings – including the masters versions of Swift’s songs from her first six albums—were sold to Scooter Braun. Swift expressed her disappointment that Braun owned the original versions of her music in a Tumblr post in 2019, claiming that he had manipulatively bullied her for years.

Without the opportunity to hold the masters rights to her original songs from her first six albums, Swift opted to instead re-record her music and re-release them. As a songwriter on her albums, she has the right to re-record her albums once her contract with Big Machine Records ended.

Swift’s most recent four albums – Lover, Folklore, Evermore, and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) – are currently the only albums that Swift has full masters rights of, which was something that was guaranteed to Swift when she signed a new contract with Universal Music Group in 2018.

Taylor Swift’s 30 Most Listened-To Songs on her most recent albums

Data collected from Spotify on April 18, 2021.

Take the quiz below to find out which Taylor Swift album best suits your personality!

R&B legends Ashanti and Keyshia Cole’s Verzuz battle was supposed to be a nostalgic event for their fans, but resulted in frustration and disappointment instead. The two women went head-to-head with their hit records on Jan. 21 after postponing the event twice.

Verzuz TV  was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic as a virtual DJ battle, where two artists compete with their greatest hits. WUSA9 reported in August that there have been over 17 Verzuz battles since the pandemic started, that all ran smoothly.

When Verzuz TV originally announced on Dec. 4 via Instagram that the next challenge was set to be Ashanti vs. Cole, fans immediately flooded the comments with excitement and anticipation.

“One of the best things to come from the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing quarantine has been the Verzuz music battles on Instagram Live,” Reese Waters, writer for WUSA9, said in his video ranking past battles.

Verzuz TV announced the first postponement when Ashanti tested positive for COVID-19, on Dec. 21.

“Unfortunately, we have to postpone tonight’s #Verzuz… we cannot put anyone at risk. First time this has struck us so close to showtime. We apologize to our incredible audience. Get well soon, Ashanti,” Versus TV said, on an Instagram post.

On Jan. 9 the battle was postponed again in response to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the nation. After each postponement, fans used social media to express their concerns and conspiracies boldly.

“Unacceptable! Ashanti knew this event was coming up! How are you going to inform your competitor and audience a few minutes before the event is supposed to happen? I’m convinced Keyshia had her shook! Or she didn’t care to take this seriously,” Sharon Gee, follower of Verzuz TV,  said.

On Jan. 21,  1.1 million people tuned into the Instagram Live and waited over an hour for the highly anticipated event to begin, which was filled with technical difficulties such as audio, and visual issues. According to Billboard’s scoreboard, the battle ended in Ashanti’s favour, winning 12 rounds to Cole’s 10, and three rounds resulting in a tie .