---
title: "Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift exclusives revive the iTunes Store"
description: "Ariana Grande's surprise iTunes-only live album Petal jumped from number 15 to number 6 after its exclusive announcement."
url: https://mactoreality.com/ariana-grande-and-taylor-swift-exclusives-revive-the-itunes-store
published: 2026-10-26T14:14:23Z
updated: 2026-10-26T14:14:23Z
author: "Mac to Reality Newsdesk"
category: Rumours
tags: ["Apps"]
publisher: Mac to Reality
ai_assisted: true
apple_heat_impact: 1
---

# Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift exclusives revive the iTunes Store

*Ariana Grande's surprise iTunes-only live album Petal jumped from number 15 to number 6 after its exclusive announcement.*

**Key points**

- The iTunes Store is seeing a revival as artists such as Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande release exclusive albums to court superfans and boost chart positions, according to the Financial Times.
- Ariana Grande's iTunes-only live album Petal climbed from number 15 to number 6 on the charts after its exclusive announcement.
- Industry experts are split on whether the exclusive-release strategy will prove viable in the long term.

The iTunes Store is in the middle of an unlikely revival, as artists release albums exclusively on the platform to court superfans and lift their chart positions, [the Financial Times first reported](https://www.ft.com/content/5a21a7fe-3929-4e11-b571-8ce4bfd778ec?accessToken=zwAAAaFxOz_Wkc9aIaf-OSlOEdO1cYzkv9d47A.MEYCIQDRs1kzjWFXImamrm3ktUUwHRNGP9pjk8vLbabih2luXQIhAJQ5-ZFBptzq0jHKh6HmB61eNgYePpLRa5dmLIckcTF2&sharetype=gift&token=d03f3ab2-b10b-4279-adea-2a9c009b105b).

According to the report, Ariana Grande surprise-released a live version of *Petal* as an iTunes-only exclusive, and the album jumped from number 15 to number 6 on the charts after the announcement. Taylor Swift’s *Life of a Showgirl* earned more from physical and digital sales in its first US week than from streaming, while Charli XCX made the B-side songs of her album *Music, Fashion, Film* an iTunes exclusive.

The iTunes Store brought per-song digital sales to the mainstream, but streaming has since become the default way most people listen. Apple retired the iTunes desktop app in 2019 and replaced it with separate Music, Podcasts and TV apps, yet continues to market the store to labels, [9to5Mac notes](https://9to5mac.com/2026/10/26/some-27-years-later-the-itunes-store-is-making-an-unlikely-come-back/). The Financial Times report is paywalled, so exact sales figures are not available. Industry experts are split on whether the exclusive-release strategy has staying power.

## Sources

- [Financial Times: Financial Times report](https://www.ft.com/content/5a21a7fe-3929-4e11-b571-8ce4bfd778ec?accessToken=zwAAAaFxOz_Wkc9aIaf-OSlOEdO1cYzkv9d47A.MEYCIQDRs1kzjWFXImamrm3ktUUwHRNGP9pjk8vLbabih2luXQIhAJQ5-ZFBptzq0jHKh6HmB61eNgYePpLRa5dmLIckcTF2&sharetype=gift&token=d03f3ab2-b10b-4279-adea-2a9c009b105b)
- [9to5Mac: Some 27 years later, the iTunes Store is making an unlikely come-back](https://9to5mac.com/2026/10/26/some-27-years-later-the-itunes-store-is-making-an-unlikely-come-back/)

*This report was written by the Mac to Reality newsdesk with AI assistance from the sources listed above, under the editorial policy at https://mactoreality.com/editorial-policy.*