Even Google Couldn’t Handle Taylor Swift’s Massive Popularity

Google
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is the most-visited website on the internet, and it receives several billion hits per day globally. It may seem like the company would be ready for anything that could come its way…but Taylor Swift proved to be too popular for the search engine.

Swift’s devoted fanbase, known as Swifties, inundated Google by taking part in a new game the tech giant set up with the singer to promote her forthcoming album 1989 (Taylor’s Version). It turns out that there are simply too many of them and that they’re more ravenous for anything attached to the star, as their intense activity actually crashed part of Google.

To engage fans and amp up excitement for 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift and Google introduced a series of 1989-themed word puzzles via the website. Fans could join in the fun by beginning a traditional Google search for “Taylor Swift” and then clicking on the blue vault icon that appeared.

The goal behind this venture was for fans to “unlock the vault” and reveal the names of the as-yet-unreleased songs set to be featured on 1989 (Taylor’s Version). The album is a reworking of her original 1989, but with a handful of tracks written and recorded during that time period included, with fans hearing them for the first time.

Swifties across the globe got to work quickly, with millions of fans playing millions of games. Google stated that once 33 million puzzles had been solved, the “From The Vault” song titles would be unveiled. This proved to be too exciting for many, and it didn’t take long before the entire program stopped working for some trying to get in on the fun.

Google even confirmed the technical hiccup on Twitter, stating, “Swifties, the vault is jammed! But don’t worry, there are no blank spaces inside. We’re in our fix-it era and will be out of the woods soon.”

It seems the glitch was fixed quickly, as Swifties completed enough word puzzles to learn the names of four of the five “From The Vault” songs set to be featured on 1989 (Taylor’s Version). The tunes are titled “Is It Over Now?,” “Now That We Don’t Talk,” “Say Don’t Go,” and “Suburban Legends.” There is still one track left to be revealed, which was hinted at via an animated video the singer posted on her Instagram. Many fans predict that based on the letters included in that visual, the song might be named “Lust!”

1989 (Taylor’s Version) will drop on October 27, but Swift hasn’t shared yet whether she’ll be releasing any more of the songs featured on the full-length ahead of its street date.