Taylor Swift has broken another record as her appearance on the New Heights podcast has not only become the show’s highest-viewed episode ever, but it also gained a higher live viewership than President Donald Trump‘s 2024 Joe Rogan interview.
The pop superstar appeared on Wednesday’s (August 13) edition of New Heights, the podcast hosted by her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and his brother, Jason Kelce. During the interview, she confirmed her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which will be released on October 3.
According to The Daily Beast, 1.3 million were watching live on YouTube during the first hour of Wednesday’s show. That is nearly double the number of people watching Trump’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience last October. Per CNN, Trump’s first hour with Rogan was watched by 800,000 people.
CNN host Kate Bolduan also added that Swift’s New Heights episode is “already on track to become one of the most-watched podcasts of all time.”
The New Heights X account celebrated the episode’s success afterwards, noting how the Swifites crashed the YouTube stream at the 1 hour, 44 minute, mark. “Shoutout all the 92%ers and Swifties for actually helping us break the internet,” the account posted. The Kelce brothers call their podcast fans the “92 percenters,” a nod to the success rate of a quarterback sneak.
“1.3 million views is the epitome of numerology,” Jason added, a playful reference to Swift’s obsession with the number 13, which she talked about in the episode.
As of writing, Swift’s New Heights episode has had over 8.7 million views since it dropped at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday. This episode has now surpassed the previous most popular one featuring Jason’s wife, Kylie, which has amassed 8.6 million views on YouTube.
In comparison, Rogan’s Trump episode was viewed 26 million times on YouTube in its first 24 hours. The episode is currently sitting at 59 million views, though the most-watched Rogan episode of all-time remains Elon Musk‘s 2018 appearance with 69 million views.
Trump has made no secret of his dislike of Swift, especially since she publicly endorsed Kamala Harris for president last year. In a Truth Social post in May, he wrote, “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer ‘HOT?’”
In an interview on Fox & Friends in September 2024, Trump said of the “Shake It Off” singer, “She’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat. And she’ll probably pay a price for it…in the marketplace.”
