Taylor Swift - Everything Has Changed

Book excerpt: Taylor Swift is taking over the world. Beginning to understand the depth of her mind-boggling popularity takes some doing. But let's try: In November 2014, on the release of single 'Blank Space', her name accounted for a legitimately staggering 10% of all Google searches, globally. Or in other words, she was the subject of one in ten enquiries made by the human race. Aged 25, she is one of the biggest-selling artists of all time, with 170 million units. This leaves U2, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney in her dust. She has 63 million followers on Twitter (or the population of the UK) and 45 million on Instagram. For perspective, this makes her the 3rd most popular account on Instagram, and 4th on Twitter, just behind Leader of the Free World, President Barack Obama. The best metric of fan passion has always been touring revenue, and Taylor's merch and ticket sales amount to $30 million - the highest in the music industry, by far.