Taylor Swift's Albums, Ranked

Taylor Swift is a uniquely notable artist of today. She has a career spanning over fifteen years and many genres. She has numerous super-fans, and numerous detractors as well.

However, we are not here today to discuss the personal life of Taylor Swift. That is not important. What is important, however, is her music. She has released nine albums (11 if you count re-recordings, but we will get to that in a minute). She began her career with her self titled debut, Taylor Swift. She moved into country pop with Fearless, and continued this trend with Speak Now. She moved more into the pop world with Red, before going for a straightforward pop sound with 1989. She continued this sound with repuation and Lover. However, once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Taylor went quiet. She re-emerged with two albums recorded in quarantine, folklore and evermore. Due to a controversy surrounding the sale of her masters, Swift embarked on a journey of re-recording her first six albums (Taylor Swift to repuation). This has resulted in the release of Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version).

A First Note

While Taylor Swift has released 11 studio albums, I will only be considering the re-recorded versions of Fearless and Red. This is due to these versions being owned by Taylor Swift.

#9 - Taylor Swift

While I am admittedly not a fan of country music in general, I am not a fan of this album in particular. The country drawl adopted by Swift feels inauthentic at times.

This album does admittedly have some good singles, in particular "Our Song" and "Picture to Burn." However, the album as a whole is not one I want or plan to return to, at least until the re-recording comes.

#8 - Fearless (Taylor's Version)

Again, my anti-country bias comes through somewhat. However, this album ranks above the its self-title successor for one major reason: that the songs are simply better. The albums first quarter is excellent, consisting of hits like "Fearless," "Fifteen," "Love Story," and "You Belong with Me." While some songs later in the album are notably good (in particular, "The Other Side of the Door" and "Mr. Perfectly Fine"), the middle of the album sags.

In addition, it can be seen here that Swift has developed her songwriting skills significantly. Swift is a writer on all tracks, and is the sole writer on nearly half of them. This talent of hers is a great sign of things to come.

#7 - Lover

Lover is perhaps the first Swift album I listened to in full. (I do not exactly remember if "folklore" or this album was the first, hence the "perhaps.") While it is a fine album, it feels like nothing more than fine. There are notable high points, such as "Cruel Summer," "Afterglow," and the closer "Daylight." However, the album is significantly dragged down by it's bland singles, like "You Need to Calm Down" and "ME!".

It is these relatively high peaks and low valleys that keeps the album in my bottom half. The album as a whole feels generally erratic, and more a hodgepodge of songs all tangentially related rather than a cohesive whole.

#6 - reputation

Reputation (displayed with a lowercase "r") is actually my most listened-to Taylor Swift album of 2021, at least so far. I am unsure of why this is, but there is clearly something about this album that kept me coming back. Perhaps it is the allure of the album, with it's "dark pop" vibes. Some of my favorite tracks include opener "... Ready for It?", "King of My Heart," and "Dress," as well as closer track "New Year's Day." While the album as a whole is much more put-together than it's successor, the production and style can become bland at times. For instance, the track "End Game," which features Ed Sheeran and Future, feels as if it goes on for too long, with too little being said. Overall, not a great album, but not terrible.

#5 - 1989

Taylor Swift's first big mainstream pop album nails the genre, in my opinion. This is for several reasons. One of the big reasons is the time length. While many Swift albums go just over an hour (with Red (Taylor's Version), which clocks in at over two hours, being the extreme), this album does what it needs to do, and gets out, all in just over 45 minutes.

This album has many notable good tracks, including recently re-released track "Wildest Dreams," "How You Get the Girl," and "I Know Places." With few low points, the album is good, and one I can always return to. However, its returnability is not as great as those of my top 4 albums.

#4 - folklore

Taylor Swift surprise-dropped this album in late July 2020. This is the album that truly made me a Taylor Swift fan. With this album, Swift adopted a new indie-type sound with this album, which was a move that few expected. She pulls off this genre incredibly, with tracks like "mirrorball," "august," and "betty" showcasing Swift's talent for lyricism. Although only one track is written solely by Swift herself (the great "my tears ricochet"), her skill is evident throughout the album. However, it does not quite measure up to it's so-called "sister album."

#3 - evermore

Taylor's most recent album of entirely original material is one of her greatest. When I think of this album in comparison to folklore, I like to compare Red in comparison to 1989. The first album shows that Taylor can make her way in a genre, while the second proves that she can thrive in it. Notable tracks that prove as such are "'tis the damn season," "no body no crime," which includes excellent backing vocals from HAIM, as well as "marjorie" and the closer title track, "evermore." The album as a whole is extraordinarily cohesive, and is one that is easy to return to, particularly in the holiday season.

#2 - Red (Taylor's Version)

Although I was a fan of Red before the re-recordings, the new version is really what shot this album up the rankings. Red includes the first Taylor Swift song I remember purposefully listening to ("I Knew You Were Trouble"). The album is strikingly similar to the original, with a few exceptions. One of the major ones is "Girl At Home," which was a country-pop-like song on the original version, but has turned into something hyperpop-adjacent on Taylor's Version. Some other notable songs that I find excellent are "Starlight," "Nothing New," which features Phoebe Bridgers (an additional favorite artist of mine), and "Message In A Bottle." In addition, the 10 Minute Version of "All Too Well" is one of the greatest examples of Swift's songwriting. The accompanying short film and performance on Saturday Night Live only served to prove that Swift can entertain and get a message across well.

#1 - Speak Now

In my opinion, Speak Now is the best Taylor Swift album. This album combines elements of country, pop, and even rock in some cases. It is one I return to very often, particularly star tracks like the opener "Mine," "The Story of Us," "Better Than Revenge," as well as "Haunted." However, there are few bad tracks to drag the rest of the album down. The only big criticism I have on this is that some of the songs err a bit on the long side. The out of the 14 tracks, 11 are longer than four minutes, with five surpassing five minutes. On the other hand however, many of these songs are excellently written, which makes up for their length.

On a side note, I can absolutely not wait for the Taylor's Version album of Speak Now. The re-recorded songs, as well as the vault tracks, should be excellent.

A Final Note

I created this blog entirely with HTML. I do apologize in advance if there are any formatting issues. I could not figure out how to center images, for one.

Let me know what your favorite Taylor Swift album is below. Each person has their own ranking, and it is always interesting to see.