Taylor Swift’s 11 Albums, Ranked
The music industry herself.
Nearly 300 songs. Countless awards and records broken. Music videos and short films. 18 years of music and 11 albums later, Taylor Swift has redefined the music industry and some may say, become it all together. Her 11 albums mark various milestones we aim for, and some we want to avoid. First love, first breakup. New friends, letting go of ones you’ve outgrown. Staying young, growing up. Heaven, hell. Happiness, hopelessness. Finding love and losing it.
And that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Each of Swift’s albums carries a myriad of concepts and conversations that represent different eras of life, love, and liberty. She’s there for us through it all.
As I’ve reflected on the versatility of Swift’s art and the synchronicity it follows with so many monumental moments and memories of my own life stories, I present a ranking of her albums, each so contrasting yet comparable.
Each album is ranked considering this criterion: the era it represents, its lyricism, and the cohesiveness of the album as a whole.
11 (fully-owned) albums, starting with number 11.
Released in 2006, Swift’s debut album put her on the map. This album merits no criticism from me, all of Swift’s work is idiosyncratic in its own ways. But, Swift has outdone herself with each release coming after Taylor Swift.
The release of Swift’s first album came before defining albums as eras. While Swifties look back on what we refer to as “Debut” as a period of cowboy boots and Southern charm, turquoise and green, black revenge dresses, and 87 and 89, the eras coming after Debut were more congruous and significant.
Despite timeless hits like “Picture to Burn” and “Our Song,” and emotional ballads like “Cold As You” and “Tied Together With a Smile,” I had no choice but to place Swift’s debut album in the 11th spot. However, I am sure the highly anticipated re-recording will redefine this era, while also honoring it as the album that jump-started Swift’s career all those years ago.
Placing Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in the 10th spot felt similar to why I placed Debut in the 11th. Defined by sparkly gold fringe, black boots, dancing in the rain, being fifteen, love stories, high school fantasies, and everything in between, Fearless TV encompassed what it meant to have big dreams while also just wanting to date the boy on the football team.
While Fearless TV is the re-recorded version of the original that was released in 2008, as one of Swift’s initially earlier albums and similar to Debut, I find the lyricism and album cohesiveness to be stronger in albums originally written later. Don’t get me wrong, songs like “The Best Day” and “White Horse” are masterpieces. Songs like “Fearless,” “You Belong With Me,” and “Love Story” merited unprecedented success for Swift. But, Swift’s other albums tell stories you never would expect, even more fearlessly.
9. Lover
Also known as Swift’s first fully-owned album. The release of Lover was a significant hallmark in Swift’s career and was due for a celebration, but this era was unfortunately cut short due to the pandemic — the highly anticipated 2020 “Lover Fest” was canceled.
Lover was the most colorful album, defined by Swift’s loving relationship at the time and sprinkled with tasteful, fun, political-in-nature songs like “The Man” and “You Need To Calm Down.” The title track “Lover,” became the soundtrack for many wedding’s first dances, and “The Archer” became my favorite song in Swift’s entire discography. So with all of this being said, why is Lover in the 9th spot? Again, it’s only a matter of Swift outdoing herself and providing so many extraordinary albums that it’s nearly impossible to choose.
8. reputation
This 8th spot ranking came as a shock to me, as it surely did for many Swifties reading. But, hear me out.
reputation is, hands-down, Swift’s most unique album. It created a cultural rift in the music industry and shifted many people’s perspective of Swift. She was the good girl gone bad. reputation’s era takes the cake for the most formidable and influential era, and definitely contains lyrical jewels like “King of My Heart” and “Delicate.” But, I believe the re-record for reputation will supersede all expectations, as the other re-recordings have. Because of this, I placed newer albums and re-recordings above reputation.
7. Midnights
An album that redefined Swift’s musical production signature and is credited for the friendship bracelets exchanged at The Eras Tour shows, Midnights takes us directly to the pages of Swift’s diary. Midnights is lyrically masterful and productionally individual, but I find some songs can easily be mistaken to fit into other albums and eras.
Defined by t-shirt dresses, self-effacing thoughts, jewels of every color, friendship bracelets, and the “guy on the screen” that became “the guy on the Chiefs,” Midnights will always be a classic era, but the next six albums take Midnights’ lyricism, era cohesiveness, and album consistency to the next level.
Red (Taylor’s Version) encapsulates the perfect era. Released in the fall of 2021, Red TV is embroidered with the feeling of orange leaves falling from trees, falling in love, and falling apart. From the short film Swift released for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” Swift’s signature style at the time, to everything in between, Red TV captures who Swift was as a young 20-something.
As an early 20-something myself, Red TV will always hold a special place in my heart. The album defines what it means to produce a cohesive, perfect album and watch it become a cohesive, perfect era. But again, Swift’s only competition is herself.
In order to be a 20-something, you have to first be 20. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) defines that era of life — love, hate, forgiveness, revenge, rejoice, regret, friends, enemies, lovers, exes, firsts, and lasts. Speak Now was Swift’s first album solely written by her — another milestone in her career, representing independence and freedom.
Aside from the era surrounding Speak Now TV, its lyricism and storytelling is also unmatched. Songs like “Speak Now” and “The Story Of Us” create movies in your mind. Songs like “Last Kiss” and “Back to December” pull on your heartstrings. “Innocent” and “Better Than Revenge” give you a guide on how to react when you feel cheated and tricked — compassion or revenge.
Speak Now TV is unrivaled in its storytelling lyricism, and the era surrounding those stories is the Northstar for so many 20-year-olds becoming 20-somethings.
4. folklore
Love triangles. Cardigans. Key-lime green dogs. Mirrorballs. Invisible strings. folklore was proof Swift can do it all — country, pop, now folk/alternative. An in-depth glimpse into the poetry Swift can write and the stories she can create, folklore, as a pandemic album, took us to the fantasyland we all needed to escape to.
The versatility of folklore paired with its consistent theming throughout the album is artistry at its highest. Songs like “the last great american dynasty” tell a story none of us would’ve known, and “this is me trying” tells the story of a feeling many of us know all too well. folklore: the land of fantasy, yet also the land of truth.
3. evermore
Despite jokingly being deemed as Swift’s least favorite/forgotten album by Swifties, evermore belongs in my top 3. From ballads like “champagne problems” and heart-wrenching songs like “tolerate it,” to hits like “right where you left me,” evermore gets you to yearn for your heart to be broken if it isn’t already, just so the songs can hit a little harder.
evermore takes you on a trip, visiting Swift’s stories of family, old friends, old love and new, and even a fabricated fantasy of killing a cheating husband. As another pandemic album and the sister to folklore, evermore takes us to another fantasyland, but one that sits a little closer to our hearts, representing the stories we’ll never tell and the desires we don’t think we’ll ever satisfy.
Swift is notorious for outdoing herself in terms of lyricism, storytelling, poeticism, and album imagery — evermore is no different.
The album that has taken 2024 by storm. 31 songs and not one misses the mark. Swift said it herself — she hits her marks even if she has a broken heart. TTPD is Swift’s most vulnerable, naked, jaw-dropping album of her career thus far. And it feels like she’s just getting started.
TTPD transports us directly into Swift’s world as a superstar, one that no Swiftie can understand. But, Swift makes it feel like she’s reading directly from our diaries and journals. Songs like “loml” remind you of what it’s like to lose in love, whereas “So High School” reminds you of what it’s like to win. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” represents the letters we write but never send, and “The Manuscript” reminds us that those letters tell our stories but will never define us.
The ongoing TTPD era is unique yet relatable, like the album itself. Marked by shades of greige, the TTPD album has shown us that even pop sensations like Swift lose color in their face and feel like all is lost to the winds of fate.
The hits, the hidden gems, the intricacies of the era itself, and the intimacy of this album brings 1989 (Taylor’s Version) to my #1 spot.
Named after Swift’s birth year and defined by one of Swift’s favorite cities, New York, and the friends, foes, and lovers she met along the way, 1989 TV feels personal — personal to Swift, and personal to Swifties. Having known Swift struggled with her body image during the original release of 1989 and had specifically chosen the original album cover because she wasn’t smiling, it was meaningful and moving to see Swift in the 1989 TV era. Swift is smiling from ear to ear on her version’s album cover, happy and healthy.
1989 TV takes you to the beach or to the city — it’s a choose-your-own-adventure. I picture myself running with my dress unbuttoned, chasing a rainbow on the beach listening to songs like “‘Slut!’” and “Wildest Dreams.” Songs like “Welcome To New York” and “New Romantics” take me to the top of the Empire State Building or right to the middle of Rockefeller Center.
1989 TV was an unprecedented sensation. The innate feeling of friendship, freedom, and independence delicately paired with angst and love creates the masterpiece that is 1989 TV.
Dancing, dreaming, crying, or laughing, 1989 TV is the album that will take you where you need to go.
If only she knew…
Swift outdoes herself time and time again, and has become a master of versatility and relatability, all while staying true to herself.
11 albums later, I know Swift still has many more surprises up her sleeve.
And they’re probably beyond our wildest dreams.
