Breakups are rarely lucrative, except in the case of Taylor Swift's split from Calvin Harris. The couple broke up in June after a year of dating, but they both shared custody of Harris' track, "This Is What You Came For" featuring Rihanna, which was written before they ended things. While Swift's name isn't anywhere in the song's credits, she revealed in July that she's actually Harris's mysterious co-writer "Nils Sjoberg." Her big reveal certainly didn't do anything to help the bad blood between the exes. In tweets that have since been deleted, Harris wrote that Swift was the one who wanted to keep her input on the song a secret and was "hurt" by the way it came out, accusing Swift's camp of "trying to make me look bad." But, the song has helped her bottomline. According to Forbes, Swift stands to earn $1 million from writing the song with Harris.
Let's break down how Swift is raking in the cash. First of all, Forbes reported that a top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 "can earn any songwriter $500,000 or $600,000 over time." The song peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 this past summer, so that's a go. Not to mention, the video for "This Is What You Came For" reached 1 billion views, which is definitely something to brag about. It also didn't hurt them get on the Hot 100 being that YouTube views count toward the sales numbers, which determine placement on the Billboard single charts.
A source with knowledge of Swift's publishing deal told Forbes that she also stands to make additional money, possibly getting her to a million in earnings off this song alone, thanks to the fact that she owns part of the publishing. Being the savvy businesswoman she is, she signed her publishing rights to the song to a company that she owns a stake in.
Since Forbes just crowned Swift 2016's highest-earning celebrity in the world, bringing in $170 million between 2015 and 2016, she clearly doesn't need the money. But, come on, it can't hurt her pride to hear this news. Especially, when it was reported that it a flippant remark Harris gave about working with Swift that led to their breakup. "You know we haven't even spoken about it," Harris told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show. "I can't see it happening though."
Now, I don't know why these two broke up, or if it had anything to do with the comments Harris made in that interview. But, what person, even the most mature among us, hasn't wanted a little sweet revenge after a breakup? No, just me? Well, Swift is getting just that. No one's getting hurt in this situation, in fact, they're both gaining a whole lot of money. But, I'd like to think that any time Swift signs those royalty checks, it feels like a small victory. Of course, winning the war would be for Swift to make another million dollars on a song she wrote about Harris. Guess we'll have to wait for her next album.
