Taylor Swift is simply too big, right? She is keeping other deserved people out of the spotlight and it is quite rude of her. If she could just allow another to have their proverbial day in the sun then everyone would be happy, but she just cannot.
(For those Swifties that have stumbled onto this article, the above is a joke so no worries! It is also a paraphrase of something rock icon Jon Bon Jovi said recently.)
The story goes that Bon Jovi's new record, Forever, slightly underperformed per Jon's expectations. Instead of reaching number one on the Billboard album charts, the record only peaked at number five. Still great, of course; many bands would love that. But Bon Jovi is used to having number-one albums and not having some ingenue keeps them from being at the top.
Jon Bon Jovi jokingly blames Taylor Swift for latest album not hitting number one
Jon Bon Jovi told Audacy recently, "If it weren't for that pesky Taylor (Swift) girl, we would have been number one everywhere!"
Before Swifties get all up in arms, though, one should know that Bon Jovi is not truly upset. In fact, he has praised Swift many times in the past. He gave Swift possibly the highest compliment and musical artist might give another when he told Variety last year, "She sings like Taylor Swift. She plays guitar like Taylor Swift. She's not trying to be something that she's not, and it is connected with an audience that is unique."
To be fair to Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi's new record only hit number one in one country, Switzerland. The Swiss have always had a love for the band since the group's third album. Every album since has landed in the top three in Switzerland. Maybe the songs go well with climbing the Alps?
The record did hit number two in Austria and Germany (one might begin to think Bon Jovi was a Germanic surname). In Australia the record peaked at number four and reached number three in the UK. Good success for a rock band of any kind really, but especially one who had not produced an album since 2020.