Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE Taylor Swift. I listen to her music almost daily, have watched her documentary Miss Americana multilpe times, and last month Spotify notified me I’m in the top 1% of her listeners. So, when my friend texted me last week to see if I wanted to compare rankings of every one of Taylor’s songs, I couldn’t say no. If you haven’t taken some time to learn about Taylor Swift and the story behind her writing, I highly recommend doing so! Below is my ranking of the songs from all seven of her recorded albums, plus a few miscellaneous releases. They are ordered by album, because trying to rank all 115+ songs against each other would be 1) too hard and 2) it wouldn’t acount for how her style has changed over the years.
- Taylor Swift (2006)
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Ah, Taylor’s debut album. The epitome of “Old Taylor,” this album is full of country tunes and love stories. Taylor was just 17 when this album came out, which makes it very nostalgic for her as well as her listeners. I love the innocence of this album; it’s a fun, classic country soundtrack that perfectly reflects Taylor in her early days.
1. I’m Only Me When I’m With You
2. Picture to Burn
3. Tim McGraw
4. Our Song
5. Should’ve Said No
6. Teardrops on My Guitar
7. Cold as You
8. The Outside
9. Invisible
10. Tied Together with a Smile
11. Mary’s Song
12. Stay Beautiful
13. A Perfectly Good Heart
14. A Place in this World
- Fearless (2008)
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Taylor’s second album Fearless was very similar stylistically to her first album. It’s full of cute, fun songs with a few hearbreakers (White Horse anyone?). This record also gave Taylor’s creative genius a chance to come out. Her stadium tour was full of elaborate sets and costumes straight out of a fairytale, and she released quite a few iconic music videos.
1. You Belong with Me
2. Love Story
3. Hey Stephen
4. Forever and Always
5. The Way I Loved You
6. White Horse
7. Fearless
8. Come in With the Rain
9. Tell Me Why
10. The Other Side of the Door
11. Untouchable
12. You’re Not Sorry
13. Jump then Fall
14. Change
15. Breathe
16. Superstar
17. The Best Day
18. Fifteen
- Speak Now (2010)
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Taylor’s third album is the last one in her early era. It was a little more pop than her first two, but definitely in the same guitar-heavy, country category. In my opinion, Taylor’s storytelling ability is her best strength in terms of songwriting, and this really shines in Speak Now.
1. Mine
2. The Story of Us
3. Dear John
4. Speak Now
5. Better than Revenge
6. Back to December
7. Sparks Fly
8. Enchanted
9. Haunted
10. Ours
11. Mean
12. Last Kiss
13. Long Live
14. If This Was a Movie
15. Innocent
16. Superman
17. Never Grow Up
- Red (2012)
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Taylor’s fourth album was her first venture into the world of pop music. It stirred up lots of drama in the country music industry, as fans felt she had left her roots behind for the pop world. I personally have never bought this argument because a) everyone’s music changes as they get older and b) she actually grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Nashville at 14, so her “country roots” were really just what she liked writing. Fun fact: This album features a coulple songs rumored to be about Taylor’s breakup with One Direction star Harry Styles (hey Siri, queue “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together”).
1. All Too Well
2. Red
3. Begin Again
4. The Lucky One
5. Everything Has Changed
6. 22
7. I Almost Do
8. Stay Stay Stay
9. I Knew You Were Trouble
10. State of Grace
11. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
12. Holy Ground
13. Girl at Home
14. The Moment I Knew
15. The Last Time
16. Come Back, Be Here
17. Starlight
18. Treacherous
19. Sad Beautiful Tragic
- 1989 (2014)
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1989 saw Taylor really step into the pop world with full force. It was full of fun, dancey songs like “Shake it Off” and poked fun at the reputation Taylor had earned as a bit of a heartbreaker. We also got to see more amazing music videos for songs like “Blank Space” and the iconic girl gang showstopper “Bad Blood,” written about her feud with Katy Perry.
1. How You Get the Girl
2. Blank Space
3. Style
4. I Wish You Would
5. I Know Places
6. Clean
7. All You Had to do Was Stay
8. You Are in Love
9. New Romantics
10. Wildest Dreams
11. Shake it Off
12. Out of the Woods
13. Bad Blood
14. Wonderland
15. This Love
16. Welcome to New York
- Reputation (2017)
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Let me just say, Reputation is, in my opinion, Taylor’s most iconic album. Which is ironic, because I actually hated it when it first came out. But, after learning more about the story behind the music, I couldn’t help but love and respect the sountrack. Also, after listening to it a few times through, there’s no way not to feel like a bada** babe. This album saw Taylor shed her skin, reclaim her reputation, and remind everyone who she really was. I had a really difficult time ranking these ones, as each one tells an important part of her story at that time (if you’re curious about her inspo, give her Netflix documentary Miss Americana a watch).
1. I Did Something Bad
2. End Game
3. Don’t Blame Me
4. Ready for It
5. King of My Heart
6. This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
7. Getaway Car
8. Call it What You Want
9. So it Goes…
10. Dancing with Our Hands Tied
11. Delicate
12. New Year’s Day
13. Gorgeous
14. Look What You Made me Do
15. Dress
- Lover (2019)
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Taylor’s most recent album is essentially pure happiness. While Reputation was a little darker, Lover is all good vibes. Here we see Taylor really starting to break free of people’s expectations of her and write music that tells her story her way, even getting political at times. This is another one of my favorite albums, as I feel like the stories are so authentic and real to the Taylor that came out of her 2016 saga stronger. After reinventing herself over and over again, I feel like Taylor has proven that artists need and deserve the space to develop and change just as much as anyone.
1. Paper Rings
2. Cruel Summer
3. London Boy
4. I Forgot You Existed
5. The Man
6. I Think He Knows
7. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince
8. Death By A Thousand Cuts
9. It’s Nice to Have a Friend
10. False God
11. Lover
12. Me
13. You Need to Calm Down
14. Daylight
15. Cornelia Street
16. Afterglow
17. The Archer
18. Soon You’ll Get Better (okay this song really doesn’t deserve last place, but it’s just sad and can be hard to listen to)
- Miscellaneous Favorites
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Over the years, Taylor has released a few singles for different projects that, while not on any one album, still deserve some recognition. Here are my three favorite random Taylor songs:
1. Only the Young (featured in her documentary Miss Americana and written about youth political activisim, enough said!)
2. I Don’t Want to Live Forever (featured in the sound track for Fifty Shades of Gray, but I really just like it because Zayn is on the track)
3. Christmas Tree Farm (a cute, fun Christmas song relating to Taylor’s childhood on her family Christmas Tree Farm, how adorable!)
I used to feel only neutral towards Taylor Swift (hard to believe, I know), but the more I’ve learned about her over the past few years, the more I love her and what she stands for. From standing up for the Equality Act, to encouraging young people to register to vote, to telling her story honestly and even going so far as to send financial aid to fans struggling due to the impacts of COVID-19, Taylor is one of the best possible role models in the music industry. If you’re looking for a place to start listening to her overwheliming amount of music, honestly you really can’t go wrong. But, I am partial to each of my favorite songs on this list, ranked at number one for each album