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Taylor Swift made headlines throughout 2023 thanks to her super successful Eras Tour and her relationship with a certain football player, which launched her already-sky-high popularity into the stratosphere. Now, there’s additional evidence of her global dominance, even among the 2- to 8-year-old set: The Little Golden Book about the pop star sold more than 1 million copies in its first seven months.
This makes the title “Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography” the fastest-selling title in Little Golden Book history. The 24-page book sells for $5.99 at Penguin Random House’s website, although you can get it cheaper on Amazon right now, where it’s just $4.78 and listed as the No. 1 Bestseller in the “Children’s Women Biographies” category. It was written by Wendy Loggia with illustrations by Elisa Chavarri.
NPD BookScan told The Washington Post that a typical Little Golden Book biography sells 5,000-6,000 copies in its first four weeks, and some become more popular over time. The Taylor Swift book sold 167,872 copies during that same time frame and sales appear to have been boosted by adults, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Here’s Random House Children’s Books tweet from December promoting the title:
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns…
We’re celebrating the one and only @taylorswift13‘s birthday by rereading her Little Golden Book biography.
https://t.co/NrRZADZ8yS
pic.twitter.com/DMWpfnDwVj
— Random House Children’s Books (@randomhousekids) December 13, 2023
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The Little Golden Book went viral over social media, which helped boost its popularity. The single hashtag #littlegoldenbooktaylorswift has more than 481,000 views and counting on TikTok, where content creators like @briannabado are showing off the book, talking about how cute it is, and recommending people buy more than one just in case their toddlers get hold of one.
@briannabado I need to buy a second one because Banks is actually obsessed with this book & I dont want him to rip the pages #taylorswiftbook #littlegoldenbook #taylorswiftlittlegoldenbook #swiftiecheck #toddlermom #littlegoldenbooks #lifewithatoddler #toddlerbooks #mommusthave ⬠original sound – Brianna Bado
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Author Loggia pitched the idea of the book in February 2021, before the Eras Tour was even announced, as part of the Golden Book biography collection that began in 2016. Though there was initially some hesitation in approving Swift as a topic, her story was eventually greenlit. It has been a bestseller ever since its May 2, 2023, publication date, making for an inexpensive collector’s item.
“The response from fans and book buyers has been overwhelming,” Loggia told Publisher’s Weekly. “People are giving it as baby shower gifts, they’re putting their concert tickets in the book, they’re pulling the book apart and creating journals with their own pages inserted, they’re using it in schools along with friendship bracelets as a classroom activity.”
And although the book itself, with its fun illustrations and facts about Swift’s life carefully curated to appeal to kids, is definitely social media-friendly, it’s really Swift and her relatable rise to stardom that’s truly selling the book.
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“Really, I wanted to focus on the songwriting and the fact that it really is like reading her diary and that she speaks from her heart and that she’s always evolving — and encouraging kids to dream,” Loggia told The Post. “Which sounds corny, but she really is inspirational for so many people.”
The Taylor Swift Little Golden Book becomes the series’ biggest seller originally appeared on Simplemost.com, helping make the most out of life.
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