Taylor Swift sparks comeback talk as she clears social media pages

Taylor Swift has left fans with a Blank Space after clearing her social media pages and making her official website go dark.

Devotees noticed something was going on on Friday (18Aug17) when the pop superstar deleted her avatar photo and header on both Twitter and Facebook, and removed all posts from her Instagram page, which boasts more than 100 million followers.

She also went one step further by taking down her website content, replacing it with a plain, black screen instead.

A representative for Taylor has yet to reveal the reason for the clean slate, but many fans are speculating the fresh start could indicate the imminent announcement of a new album.

"All Taylor Swift's social medias are like this," read a Twitter message on one fan account, alongside images of the deleted avatars. "Is the new era coming or she has been hacked ??"

Others were quick to note the timing of the social media shake-up.

"Three year anniversary of the 1989 album announcement .... and now we are getting SOME MAJOR HINTS. @taylorswift13 #TS6IsComing," one excited fan posted about the prospect of Taylor releasing her sixth solo album, as another shared, "I'm dead, I can't take this @taylorswift13 , I'm shivering , I can't imagine anything above 1989 , #TS6IsComing".

The Bad Blood hitmaker released her last project, 1989, in October, 2014.

Taylor has only made a handful of social media appearances in recent months after enjoying some time off this year (17) and laying low with her new boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn.

However, she returned to headlines this month (Aug17) as her longrunning groping battle with a Denver, Colorado DJ went to trial. She was awarded a symbolic $1 on Monday (14Aug17) when a jury ruled that radio host David Mueller had sexually assaulted her by grabbing her butt during a meet-and-greet photo opportunity backstage at a 2013 concert in the city.