Taylor Swift is, unarguably, one of the most successful singers of all time. She has 14 Grammys at the time of writing, having been nominated for 52. Other achievements include having seven albums surpassing one million first-week sales, and ran the highest-grossing tour globally. Overall, it’s hard to fault her ambition. Looking at all her achievements, I decided to do what anyone else would do: listen to every single one of her songs, and rank them.
so, what was the ranking criteria?
There were numerous components to my rankings, and different weightings for each criteria. I re-listened to each song from every album, ranked every song using the criteria, and averaged out the results to rank the albums. These are the components that I used:
Enjoyment (weighted 30%)
Emotion (weighted 26%)
Lyricism (weighted 25%)
Sound (weighted 12%)
Nostalgia (weighted 7%)
So every song was assigned a score out of 10 weighted in accordance with the above. Based on averages, this is what my album ranking looks like!
and now, the ranking…
11. Fearless
Grade Scale: C
Released: 2008 (original), 2021 (TV)
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Fifteen (8.4), You Belong With Me (7.5), Love Story (7.5)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): You All Over Me (ft. Maren Morris) TV FTV (3.4), The Other Side of the Door TV (3.4), Breathe (ft. Colbie Caillat) TV (3.7)
Obviously Fearless is an iconic album, but at the time it was released I wasn’t really listening to Taylor Swift. I knew the two that everyone knows — You Belong With Me and Love Story — but not any of the others, really. That was a major factor in my ranking because I feel like most people might have put it higher for nostalgia purposes.
10. Debut
Grade Scale: C+
Released: 2006
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Teardrops on my Guitar (7.9), Should’ve Said No (7.2), Our Song (7)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): A Perfectly Good Heart (4.1), Stay Beautiful (4.1), Invisible (4.3)
Look, it started off her career, so it gets props for that. Outside of that, though, the album is a little bit of a work-in-progress.
9. the tortured poets department
Grade Scale: B—
Released: 2024
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): The Black Dog (8.7), The Tortured Poets Department (8.7), Guilty as Sin? (8.4)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): I Look In People’s Windows (4.3), But Daddy I Love Him (4.5), My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys (4.6)
There’s some highs and some lows with this one. Ultimately, though, I find it just isn’t one I tend to go back and listen to. Some parts are a touch cringey, to be honest, but others are emotional.
8. red
Grade Scale: B—
Released: 2021
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): All Too Well (10 min) (9.9), All Too Well (9.1), The Last Time (ft. Gary Lightbody) TV (8.4)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): State of Grace (4.6), Girl At Home TV (4.8), Better Man (4.9)
There’s a lot that’s mid, and some good stuff. Overall, I appreciate Red for what it is, but it’s never been one of my favourites.
7. reputation
Grade Scale: B
Released: 2017
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Call It What You Want (8.8), Look What You Made Me Do (8), I Did Something Bad (8)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Dancing With Our Hands Tied (4.4), So It Goes… (4.8), End Game (5.6)
Reputation has its audience (it is my flatmate’s favourite album of Swift’s, after all). That audience is just not me.
6. Lover
Grade Scale: B+
Released: 2019
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): The Archer (8.4), The Man (8.3), Daylight (8)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): London Boy (2.8), ME! (ft. Brendon Urie) (3.4), False God (6.3)
I think Lover has some excellent tracks, and it is certainly a memorable and enjoyable album. Tracks like ME! and London Boy really hurt it for me. London Boy is close to my least favourite track out of all of hers, which lowers Lover’s ranking just a touch.
5. 1989
Grade Scale: A—
Released: 2014 (original), 2023 (TV)
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Wildest Dreams (8.9), You Are In Love (8.6), Say Don’t Go (8.3)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Welcome to New York (5), Clean (5.3), All You Had to Do Was Stay (6)
1989 is an excellent album. It’s so nostalgic and is hard to fault in that sense. I find that when I’m in certain moods, 1989 just hits the spot. It isn’t my favourite album of Taylor’s, though, but trust me when I say I think of the album very highly.
This album scored highest in the nostalgia category based on the average of all the albums.
4. midnights
Grade Scale: A—
Released: 2022
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Maroon (9.2), Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve (9.1), You’re Losing Me (9)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Karma (2.1), Vigilante Shit (2.9), Dear Reader (3.4)
A wide variety in scores. My least favourite song of Taylor’s — Karma — is featured on this album, but so is Maroon, one of my top songs of all time. I do like Midnights.
3. speak now
Grade Scale: A
Released: 2010 (original), 2023 (TV)
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): The Story of Us (9), Last Kiss (8.7), I Can See You (8.6)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): When Emma Falls in Love TV FTV (4.9), Superman TV (5.1), Ours TV (5.4)
This is where my individual song rankings start to get very consistent. Most of the songs were a 7 or above, in fact 16 of the 23 fell into that category, with only three of that remaining 7 being below a 6. Speak Now is a great album. I recommend listening to it the whole way through as well as just picking songs out.
2. evermore
Grade Scale: A
Released: 2020
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Marjorie (9.7), Gold Rush (9.6), Tolerate It (8.9)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Coney Island (ft. The National) (6), It’s Time to Go (6.4), Closure (6.6)
Aside from having a song reportedly based on a favourite book of mine, Rebecca (Tolerate It), Evermore is a fantastic album full of excellent songs. The rankings were even more consistent here, with no songs below a 6 and only three below a 7.
This album scored highest in the overall sound category based on the average of all the albums.
1. folklore
Grade Scale: A+
Released: 2020
Top 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Mirrorball (9.9), Mad Woman (9.6), Seven (9.4)
Worst 3 Songs (in order, with rating out of 10): Betty (5.2), Illicit Affairs (6.8), Hoax (7.1)
Folklore is just her best album. There’s no beating it for me. Every song bar 2 scores above a 7. 10 of the 17 songs score above an 8. And five songs of those 10 score above a 9. If there’s one Taylor Swift album you’ll love, it’s this one.
This album scored highest in the lyricism, enjoyability, and emotional impact category based on the average of all the albums.
top songs in categories
Top Songs based on Enjoyability:
- The Story of Us
- Seven
- You Are in Love
- Gold Rush
Top Songs based on Emotional Impact:
- All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
- Marjorie
- Innocent
- Fifteen
Top Songs based on Lyricism:
- All Too Well (10 Minute Version)
- Maroon
- The Manuscript
- Slut!
Top Songs based on Overall Sound:
- Gold Rush
- Look What You Made Me Do
- Mirrorball
- Marjorie
Top Songs based on Nostalgia:
- Enchanted
- Back to December
- Love Story
- You Belong with Me
overall top 5 songs and bottom 5 songs
Top 5 (ordered best first):
| Mirrorball | Folklore |
| All Too Well (10 Minute Version) | Red |
| Marjorie | Evermore |
| Gold Rush | Evermore |
| Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve | Midnights |
Bottom 5 (ordered worst first):
| Karma | Midnights |
| London Boy | Lover |
| You All Over Me (ft. Maren Morris) TV FTV | Fearless |
| The Other Side of the Door TV | Fearless |
| Vigilante Shit | Midnights |
final thoughts
Let me know how you would have ranked the albums. To be honest, my original prediction (before re-listening to anything) was the following:
| 1. Folklore |
| 2. Evermore |
| 3. Speak Now |
| 4. 1989 |
| 5. Lover |
| 6. Midnights |
| 7. Reputation |
| 8. Red |
| 9. TTPD |
| 10. Debut |
| 11. Fearless |
So I was right from 7-11, and 1-3, but the middle was a little off.
You never know, your idea of where you rank the albums might be different from the actuality too! Why not try ranking them yourself?