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Reputation, Taylor Swift's sixth studio album, has taken the #1 spot on US iTunes following the announcement that the singer has finally purchased ownership of the master recordings of her first six albums from Shamrock Capital. For the unversed, Swift's first six albums, previously owned by Big Machine, came under Scooter Braun's ownership after he bought the record label in 2019.
In 2020, Braun's company, Ithaca Holdings, sold the catalog to private equity firm Shamrock Capital for around $360 million, as reported by Billboard. Both times, Taylor Swift revealed that she was kept in the dark about the sales and had heavily criticized Braun for purchasing her catalog without allowing her to buy it.
On May 30, 2025, Taylor Swift took to her website to announce that she had full ownership of the master recordings of all her albums for the first time in her career. Following this, her 2017 LP Reputation climbed to the #1 spot on US iTunes. The album was released during a period of her life when she avoided the public eye following her feud with Kanye West and his former wife, Kim Kardashian.
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The news of Reputation topping the US iTunes charts was met with praise from Swifties, who dubbed the move "iconic."
"She got her masters back and sent reputation straight to the top. Iconic all over again."
Several fans agreed with this sentiment, calling Taylor Swift "legendary" and claiming the feat would have been unachievable by any artist other than the Karma singer.
"Name one artist (alive) who has this power.." one person tweeted.
"There is no artist alive right now that’s able to do this with just an Instagram post…" another person added.
"This is absolutely legendary! What an iconic win for her!" someone else exclaimed.
"Taylor said "you can't own my past, but I can" and boom...reputation back at #1," another user said.
Others praised Reputation for being "timeless," calling it Taylor Swift's "best album."
"This is the most reputational thing in the world that could have happened, she lost it, recovered it and is still #1," one fan posted.
"She was real for not re-recording because that feeling rep gave us cannot be recreated," someone else commented.
"Her best album we knew this getting its resurgence," another user wrote.
"Reputation will always be that timeless girl," one fan added.
Taylor Swift discusses the fate of Reputation (Taylor's Version)
Since 2021, Taylor Swift has released re-recorded versions of her albums in a bid to gain ownership of her work with the tagline "Taylor's Version." As of this article, the singer, currently signed to Universal Music Group's Republic Records, has released re-recorded versions of Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989.
Of the six albums that were previously not owned by her, Reputation and her self-titled debut album were the only two projects that were not re-recorded and re-released under the tagline "Taylor's Version." Following the news of her masters announcement, several fans wondered about the fate of the re-recordings of the two albums, especially Reputation.
For context, Taylor Swift has released the re-recorded version of Look What You Made Me Do, which was used in an episode of the sixth season of The Handmaid's Tale. However, she did not announce a release date for Reputation (Taylor's Version).
Swift addressed the fate of the highly anticipated album during her letter announcing the ownership of her masters. She revealed that she "kept hitting a stopping point" while re-recording Reputation, adding that she hadn't "even re-recorded a quarter" of the project.
"What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief," she wrote.
Furthermore, Taylor Swift added that Reputation is the only project from her first six albums that she felt "couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it," so she "kept putting it off."
"To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in the first 6 that I thought couldn’t be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you’re into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch," Taylor Swift wrote.
She also revealed that she "completely re-recorded" her debut album, adding that both projects "can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right" and they won't be released "from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have."
As of this article, it is unclear how much Taylor Swift paid to buy back her master recordings of her first six albums. However, according to a Billboard report, it is estimated to be in the ballpark of what Shamrock Capital paid to acquire her master recordings from Scooter Braun in 2020.
