Back in 2006, a little-known country singer called Taylor Swift released her debut single ‘Tim McGraw’. Written when she was a high school freshman, it saw Swift dissect her relationship with a senior who she knew would break up with her when he went off to college. It was the first taste the world got of Swift’s deeply confessional songwriting, and from that moment, we were hooked.
Eleven albums, a mantelpiece of awards and over a decade later, Swift has become one of the biggest popstars on the planet. First emerging as a country-crossover artist, she’s since embraced glossy pure pop and indie-folk; but while her sound may have changed, Swift’s brilliantly honest lyricism and songwriting talent has remained a keystone in her tunes.
In recent years, she’s also become a music business game-changer: most notably for re-recording her first six albums in order to regain control of her masters, which has seen Swift release the ‘Taylor’s Version’ of ‘Red’, ‘Fearless’, ‘Speak Now’, and most recently, ‘1989’.
As Swift releases her eleventh studio album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ (which arrived as a surprise double album, an additional 15 tracks appearing on ‘The Tortured Poets Department: the Anthology’), here we take a look back on Taylor Swift’s entire career and rank her ten albums in order of greatness. Where Swift has re-recorded an album, we have included only the new, re-recorded version of the record in the ranking.
‘Taylor Swift’ (2006)
Almost 15 years ago, before the Grammy awards and international tours, a fresh-faced, 17-year-old Taylor Swift released her self-titled debut album. Written in her freshman year of high school, it positioned her as a country-crossover hopeful ready for mainstream success. Filled with rootin’ tootin’ tunes like ‘Tim McGraw’, ‘Our Song’ and ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ (largely considered Swift’s breakout song) that stormed the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, it earned a teenage Taylor support slots on tour with Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts and Faith Hill. It’s a solid album which shows bucket-loads of promise; but it’s not a patch on what was to come later.
‘Reputation’ (2017)
Look, ‘Reputation’ served a purpose. It saw Swift push back at a narrative that saw her portrayed as vengeful and bitter, an image that had been thrust upon her by the media and exacerbated by her very public, very long-running beef with Kanye West (first started when he infamously interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMAs, and regularly reignited by the Kardashian-West clan). The imagery for the album was filled with snakes, and lyrics subtly (and at times, not so subtly) addressed their falling out. True, this album successfully acted as a reminder that Swift is a powerhouse musician who shouldn’t be messed with. And a follow-up to ‘1989’ would always have big shoes to fill – but ‘Reputation’ lacked the stone-cold smashers Swift has proven time and time again she’s capable of. There are, of course, a handful of golden tunes (‘Dancing with Our Hands Tied’, ‘Call It What You Want’, ‘Delicate’).
‘Lover’ (2019)
How do you follow-up ‘Reputation’, a revenge album filled with vengeance? With a record that’s “a love letter to love itself”. Swift’s seventh ignores the bombastic electro-pop of its predecessor, and instead embraces the sleek stylings of ‘1989’. Although the first glimpses we heard from it (the musical theatre-style ‘Me!’ and the stomping ‘You Need to Calm Down’) didn’t do the record justice, listen to ‘Lover’ in full and you’ll find moments of pure joy. ‘Cruel Summer’, co-written with St. Vincent, is a euphoric three minutes of exhilarating ‘80s synth-pop which recently got its rightful moment in the sun: after viral success and inclusion on the setlist of Swift’s Eras Tour it was released as a single, almost four years on from ‘Lover”s initial release – climbing to Number One in the US in late October. Meanwhile, the tongue-in-cheek ‘I Forgot That You Existed’ is a strutting reminder of Swift’s skills as a lyricist. And then there’s the title track, a gorgeous slow-dance, that acts as a reminder to why the world fell in love with Swift in the first place.
‘The Tortured Poets Department’ (2024)
When Swift released her eleventh album, she explained on social media that it was “an anthology of new works that reflect events, opinions and sentiments from a fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.” The epic double album, which includes the record’s second part ‘The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology’ (which Swift surprise released two hours after ‘TTPD’ dropped), is 31 tracks and clocks in at over two hours. Spinning brutally honest reflections over a palette of synth-pop and indie-folk, it sees Swift work with long-time collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, their distinct sonic fingerprints accompanying some of Swift’s most searing songwriting.
On ‘So Long, London’ Swift excavates a fractured relationship, offering the heart-wrenching: “The spirit was gonе, we would never come to/And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free”, while Anthology track ‘The Black Dog’ sees Swift reflect that “Old habits die screaming”, the line emphasised by accompanying thumping synth stabs. And there’s ‘Clara Bow’, named after the silent film actress, a meditation on fame and life in the public eye, that closes with powerful: “You look like Taylor Swift/In this light, we’re loving it’/You’ve got edge she never did/The future’s bright, dazzling”.
And while there are less successful lyrical moments (the title track’s “You smokеd then ate seven bars of chocolate/We declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist”), and the length of album can make it difficult to digest, the album shows Swift at her most candid, messy and complex emotions fearlessly shared with her audience.
‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ (2023)
By album three Swift was a certified Big Deal. After the runaway success of country-pop second record ‘Fearless’, for ‘Speak Now’ elements of pop rock, bluegrass and soft rock were added into the mix. Whilst it has less T-Swiz classics than other releases, across the board it’s one of Swift’s strongest albums, bursting with catchy morsels. The Grammy-winning ‘Mean’ is amongst Swift’s most underrated songs, ‘Sparks Fly’ is a toe-tapping anthem and slow-burner ‘Back to December’ is a karaoke classic. It also boasts some of Swift’s best ever lyricism – for example its title track, where Swift vividly describes the wedding of an ex-lover: “I sneak in and see your friends / And her snotty little family, all dressed in pastel / And she is yelling at a bridesmaid / Somewhere back inside a room / Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry”. Top that, Shakespeare.
The third album to be re-recorded by Swift, the Taylor’s Version of ‘Speak Now’ also allows us a trip back in time to the vault, with six previous unreleased songs added to the record, including collaborations with Fall Out Boy (on ‘Electric Touch’) and Hayley Williams (‘Castles Crumbling’). While largely these tunes can’t hold a candle to the LP’s initial tracklisting, you can’t deny the slinky ‘I Can See You’ is a stone cold smash.
‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ (2021)
If ‘Teardrops on My Guitar’ from Swift’s debut album was her breakthrough song, it was ‘Love Story’, the ballad from its follow-up ‘Fearless’, that cemented her name in the pop history books. On Swift’s second album she still kept things country, but this time the pop edge that defined later releases was more evident. Songs like ‘Love Story’, ‘You Belong with Me’ and ‘Fifteen’, filled with heart-on-sleeve lyrics and earworm hooks, remain among her best.
First released in 2008, its original release won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and thirteen years later in 2021, ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’ became the first of Swift’s re-recorded albums to drop. With the addition of six “from the Vault” tracks (songs written at the same time as the album, that Swift shared with the re-recorded version), it was like opening a musical time-capsule; with tracks like the emotive ‘Fifteen’ taking on a new meaning as a poignant tribute to her teenage life.
‘Midnights’ (2022)
‘Midnights’ was a glittering return to Swift’s pure-pop music. After embracing folk-flecked sounds on sister albums ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’, for ‘Midnights’ Swift instead turns to bubbling synths and percussive beats, this sleek production run under the artist’s late night musings.
In a statement when her tenth studio album was first revealed Swift explained this project is “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life”, meaning it’s filled with the sorts of realisations that only hit you in the wee hours. On earworm lead-single ‘Anti-Hero’ Swift sings: “It’s me/Hi/I’m the problem, it’s me”, the kind of thought we’ve all had when lying awake trying to drift off. The euphoric ‘Mastermind’ takes it one step further, where on it Swift admits: “No one wanted to play with me as a little kid/So I’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since/To make them love me and make it seem effortless/This is the first time I’ve felt the need to confess”. It’s a brilliantly honest moment, taken from Swift’s most mature album yet.
‘Folklore’ (2020)
Swift’s surprise eighth album arrived with very little fanfare. Casting aside the usual lengthy album campaigns or meticulously planned drip-feeding of singles, T-Swiz uncharacteristically announced ‘Folklore’ the day before it was released. It’s not just the shock drop that felt different, though, as musically it saw Swift dive head-first into a new sonic palette of wistful indie-folk.
Teaming up with The National’s Aaron Dessner (who worked on 11 of the 16 songs) and long-time collaborator Jack Antonoff, it’s a stunning collection of modern folk songs. The brooding production glitches and glitters, embracing the indietronica that’s permeated the last few The National records. There’s a Bon Iver collaboration, too: melancholy duet ‘Exile’, a slow-burning number which eventually erupts into chattering layered vocals and euphoric strings at the climax. Yet it’s the lyricism that makes ‘Folklore’ such an astonishing album, with Swift writing both from her own point of view, as well as exploring other people’s. The spectacular ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’ describes the life of American artist Rebekah Harkness (whose Rhode Island house Swift bought in 2013) with vivid descriptive lyrics. And there’s what Swift has called The Teenage Love Triangle, a trio of songs (‘Betty’, ‘Cardigan’ and ‘August’) that explore a knotty romance from three people’s perspectives.
It’s a dazzling, surprising album, brimming with career-best moments, and heralded a brave new direction for the pop star.
Evermore (2020)
Not content with just giving us one surprise album in 2020, Swift returned to her cabin in the woods and a mere five months later released ‘Evermore’. She’s described it as a sister record to the aforementioned ‘Folklore’; where that record allowed Swift to completely reinvent her sound, coupling her trademark hooks and vibrant storytelling with indie-folk instrumentals, ‘Evermore’ exudes a new sense of confidence. There’s a free-wheeling, carefree attitude to the collection.
Haim collaboration ‘No Body, No Crime’ is a full-blown country revenge song, while ‘Long Story Short’ and ‘Gold Rush’ fuse Swift’s new sound with some ‘1984’-era gloss. ‘Marjorie’ is a tear-jerking tribute to her late grandmother and Justin Vernon-duet ‘Evermore’ is a euphoric beacon of hope that feels especially poignant at the end of 2020. On this record, Swift’s took her new sound and ran with it – with thrilling results.
‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’ (2021)
On 2012’s ‘Red’, Swift began her transition from country crossover artist to creating glossy, mainstream pop; on its 2021 re-record we were reminded just what a superb songwriter Swift has always been. ‘Red’ is filled with top notch tunes: the brilliantly snarky ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ (Swift’s first ever Billboard 100 Number One) and fizzing ’22’ are stone-cold smashers. ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’, with its swift-step breakdown, saw her signature sound infused with trendy dance production. Meanwhile, ‘The Last Time’ (featuring Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody) showed a more mature sound with its grandiose alt-rock guitars and soaring melodies.
But it’s ‘All Too Well’ that’s the finest moment on ‘Red’, and possibly the greatest song Swift has ever written. Painting the picture of an unravelling relationship, it gradually crescendos, climaxing in the gut-punch couplet of “And you call me up again just to break me like a promise / So casually cruel in the name of being honest”. On ‘Red (Taylor’s Version)’, we got the spellbinding 10-minute version of the song, an epic rendition that cements the tune’s place as a songwriting triumph.
‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ (2014)
‘1989’ is a masterclass in how to make a timeless pop record. Here Taylor sacked off her country roots and embraced full-blown pop. Working with a who’s who of trendy producers and writers (Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, Ali Payami alongside indie darling Imogen Heap), she crafted a collection of glossy belters, that flit from fluffy dance-pop (‘Shake It Off’) and sophisticated electronic-tinged bops (‘Blank Space’, ‘Style’), to glorious indietronica (‘Out of the Woods’, ‘Clean’). Stuffed with ‘80s influence, it also saw a step up in Swift’s song writing, with her sharp, pithy lyrics feeling refined and sleek, hook-laden melodies dominating the entire record. It won a mantelpiece of awards – including the Grammy for Album of the Year – but perhaps even more impressive is the fact it’s already left a massive impact, less than a decade after it was first released.
And with the release of ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’ we have the chance to dive back into this world, the sparkling sonics sounding better than ever. From the cinematic instrumentals of ‘Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)’, to from phenomenal “From the Vault” tune ‘Now That We Don’t Talk’ (which includes brilliantly Swiftian eye-rolls: “Now that we don’t talk/I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock/or that I’d like to be on a mega yacht”), it’s a welcome trip down memory lane.
The songs are as fresh as they were when first released in 2014 with the choruses still getting embedded in your head. In short: ‘1989’ is Taylor Swift’s masterpiece.