In my post yesterday about Taylor Swift’s announcement that a new single called “Patient Zero” is incoming, I wondered whether or not the track would be “a bonus single from whatever new new deluxe deluxe version of a previous album she might be issuing”. Deluxes and variants are so confusing to me. In August of last year, Variety reported that at the time there were “11 different CD editions and eight different vinyl editions released of” The Life of a Showgirl. And, at the time, those were already being referred to as “deluxe” by her fans and media.

Most major artists now release variants and deluxes to pump up sales – and considering that The Life of a Showgirl posted the highest first week sales of any album in history, obviously the strategy worked. Her fans have demonstrated that they are willing to spend money on whatever she’s giving them. To be fair, BTS does this too and their current album ARIRANG has the highest first week sales of any album in 2026…although that might change in a couple of days.

Because this morning Taylor confirmed that “Patient Zero” is one of four new songs that will be included in the new new deluxe deluxe version of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore coming on Friday.

If it’s one thing about Taylor, it’s that she loves a sales record. The word “sales” or “selling” is not in the caption of her post but that’s what she means when she says “the biggest first week for an album”. It’s a measurable achievement, it comes with a number, a quantifiable accomplishment associated with a figure – and she’s racking them up, like trophies, if a cell on an Excel sheet could be trophy-phied. 

This, by the way, is another way she and Travis Kelce are so compatible. Success is measured in sport, especially his sport, the same way – with stats, numbers that signify excellence, from rushing and reception yards to touchdowns.

With Encore, Taylor may have another record in her sights. Is there a record for the highest-selling deluxe album? The Life of a Showgirl last year sold over four million album units. Obviously the deluxe won’t get anywhere within reach of that… but it would indeed be a bragging right if she could claim some kind of number on a deluxe. I’ll just arbitrarily throw a number out there: 700K. Should Taylor move anywhere north of 500K on a deluxe (meaning most of the songs are not new) a year after the release of the original, it’s definitely a reason for her to get mega puffy considering that very few artists are even crossing the 300K mark these days. And if anyone can do it, it’s her and her fans.

Photo credits: Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott

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