UPDATED 4/30/2024
Most fans anticipated that Taylor Swift would release reputation TV as her next album. Instead, she announced her brand new album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Feb. 4, 2024, after winning Best Pop Vocal Album for her preceding work, Midnights. After the album came out, we decided to update our rankings as we saw fit.
—————————————————
Taylor Swift is one of the most influential pop stars to date. With the success of her recorded albums, her newest album, Midnights, and her Eras Tour there is no question that she has millions of fans globally. With the anticipation of reputation TV, we put this ranking together.
1. folklore
folklore is Swift’s eighth studio album. The album was released on July 24, 2020, with a run time of 63:29. The album falls into the indie-folk genre and securely earned the top spot on our list with its telling of a love triangle. Two of the other notable songs are “mirrorball” and “mad woman.” “mirrorball” focuses on the idea of being in the spotlight all the time and the pressure you feel to be perfect all the time. The other, “mad woman,” shows the hypocrisy of various patriarchal ideas.
2. Red (Taylor’s Version)
Red (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recording of Swift’s fourth studio album. The album was released on Nov. 12, 2021, with a run time of 130:26. It stands out as the longest of her albums with a total of 30 songs. The closing track “All Too Well*” is the full-length version of the fifth track which was cut down for the original album. The extended version of the song, along with other vault tracks like “Message in a Bottle” and the charity single “Ronan” make this album a favorite amongst fans.
3. Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) is a re-recording of her third studio album. The album was released on July 7, 2023, with a run time of 104:33. Along with the release of the album, Taylor released a music video for the vault track “I Can See You” which features fellow celebrities Joey King, Taylor Lautner and Presley Cash. The album covers numerous themes about growing up from the perspective of 20-year-old Swift with tracks like “Never Grow Up” and “Innocent.” “Innocent” specifically addresses the fears that many high school students can relate to as they enter society as adults by reminding listeners that we all make mistakes but that we can learn from them rather than letting them restrict us.
4. evermore
evermore is Taylor’s ninth studio album. The album was released on Dec. 11, 2020, with a run time of 60:38. The album, released less than five months after folklore, was a huge surprise to her fans. Unfortunately, the incredibly narrow release window led to the album being largely overshadowed by the prior release. The album falls into the indie-folk genre and the album as a whole has a very melancholic feel with the simple percussion lines and background parts. The melodies and vocals have a distinctly minor feel to them despite the entire album being in various major keys.
5. The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology
The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology was surprised dropped 2 hours after the release of The Tortured Poets Department. The album has a run time of 122:21 and collabs with Post Malone (“Fortnight”) and Florence and the Machine (“Florida!!!”). The album, while only being out for a couple of weeks, has many fan favorites, such as “So Long London”, “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” and “Down Bad”. Collabing with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, it explores the end of her relationship with Joe Alwyn and Matty Healy, but also wrote “The Alchemy” and “So High School” about her current boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Overall, the album has a sadness that we haven’t seen since Red, and it explores deeper themes, such as the song “Clara Bow” in which Swift compares her highly publicized life to that of Bow’s, who was a star in 1920’s, but ultimately quit after the pressure being too much for her.
6. Reputation
Reputation is Taylor’s sixth studio album. The album was released on Nov. 10, 2017, with a run time of 55:38. The album was the successor to the wildly successful 1989 album which was a major change in the style of music Swift produced. Reputation addresses the backlash she faced from the change in her style both lyrically with the songs “Endgame” and “Look What You Made Me Do” but also stylistically with the album’s more rock-influenced feel. While the opening tracks on the album are very centered around the idea of being flamed by the media for changing her style of music, the album has a noticeable shift to more romantic songs like “Dress” and “Call It What You Want.”
7. Midnights
Midnights is her first new album in just under two years, and the sound is nothing like we have seen before from Swift. Combining synth, pop, and R&B elements with the help of Jack Antonoff and William Bowrey, the bass lines and production are beautiful. Her emerging themes were very evident in her lyrics, and her TikTok series “Midnights Mayhem with Me” brought fresh marketing to the album. Midnights is up for six Grammys this year. Her hit single “Anti-Hero” is up for record of the year, song of the year, and best pop solo performance. The actual album is up for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Finally, Swift and rapper Ice Spice are up for Best Pop Duo/Group with their song “Karma.”
8. Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift, better known as Debut is Swift’s first album and has many good songs. However, because of this, she had not established herself as an artist, so it is nearly impossible for it to be up to par with some of her newer albums. I will say this album is one of her best country albums and an amazing country album in general.
9. Lover
With the breakup between her and Joe Alwyn, Lover has yet to age well. Add the fact that the lead singles were not chosen well, and the overall marketing of the album could have been more organized; it was an average album for Swift. Don’t get me wrong, a couple of the songs are top tier, “False God,” “Daylight” and “Afterglow,” but combine that with “You Need to Calm Down” and “ME (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! At The Disco)” (who has been accused of sexual assault), it creates an average album.
10. 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
Although it has a couple of standout songs like “Out of the Woods,” “New Romantics” and “Clean,” it lyrically falls flat compared to her other albums. While the album became incredibly popular because of it’s more modern pop style, tracks like “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” became extremely overplayed, tarnishing the album as a whole. The vault tracks were some of the best to date; however, one album has to be at the bottom. It was an excellent first-pop album, but could have been better executed.
11. Fearless (Taylor’s Version)
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was the first album Swift re-recorded and was an underwhelming release. There wasn’t much marketing, the production was lazy, and with the drastic change from her country voice of 2008 to her pop voice of the 2020s, the album was definitely a letdown. Other than “Mr. Perfectly Fine” and “Today Was A Fairytale,” the vault tracks were forgettable at best, and I honestly prefer the original.
*The full title is “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)(Taylors Version)(From The Vault)”
