In 2006, at just 16 years old, Taylor Allison Swift would release her first of the ten and counting studio albums. This launched a tremendous career and started her rise to becoming a significant force in music and pop culture and one of the most well-known names around the world.
She started at such a young age that her life has been displayed visually and through our stereos, documenting most of her life. Who she’s dating, who the next song or album will be about, everything about her. The world has been dying to know each move she makes and each step that she takes. Each of these albums tells a story about that point in her life, that era of her growing up.
No one can deny the amount of influence she has had and the depths of loyalty her fans have for her. She’s taken on the music industry like no one could. She creates these Easter eggs for her fans to look out for. She adores her fans; Each story or album tells a new tale for Taylor, and though that story can be different, they also bring different music styles as they come along.
Every Taylor Swift album ranked
Fans have related to each of these releases and the songs differently, but which is the best? Ranking Taylor Swift’s albums from worst to first. I say this first. Sometimes, last place isn’t a good spot, but when it’s your ranking as a Taylor Swift album, that’s still impressive.
10. Evermore
Again, Taylor hasn't made a bad album. Evermore has to go to number 10, though. Some notable songs from this release are "Champaign Problems", "Willow", and "No Body No Crime". These songs make up a solid list; the album, for me though, isn't quite up to the rest of them. It's hard to reach the top when you have ten albums out, and Taylor Swift did them all. The more Indie Folk-style albums she really nailed. Not many artists can jump through different genres and produce anything good, let alone with the success and the embrace from the fans that she has.
9. Folklore
The first Covid album. I loved Taylor stepping into a different genre and creating something outside of anything she had ever done, but it didn't hit the same way the others had. Even at number 9, it still won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year; this made her the first woman to win this award three times! Folklore carries some solid hits for its track listing: "Cardigan", "Betty", "August", "The 1", and "The Last Great American Dynasty". After this album, I'm convinced she could do anything in any style.
8. Midnights
The tenth studio album, released on October 21, 2022, was titled Midnights. This album transitioned a sound back to the pop, synth pop sort of style that Taylor had been writing in. "Anti-Hero", "Lavender Haze", "You're on Your Own Kid", and "Karma" are some hits off this record. Midnights earned three different Grammy Awards: Album of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Producer of the Year. Although this is an excellent piece of work, it couldn't reasonably contend with the other works of Taylor, so Midnights gets the rank of 8.
7. Speak Now
When I started making this list, I knew what my top two and bottom picks would be and just had to think about the order. Other than that, the rest of the albums I knew would fill up the rest, and it was a toss-up on what order they went. It seems ridiculous to be typing this now and think I'm doing Speak Now, which is number 7.
"Mine", "Sparks Fly", "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", and "Enchanted" are some of the great songs on this jam-packed album. Released on October 25, 2010, this was the third studio album from Swift. This release was more like the previous two albums, included quite a bit of country elements to the music, and was really on brand for her at the time. Another wave of Taylor Swift's music that spoke directly to a generation and started to build her cult following even more.
6. Lover
I remember the excitement and anticipation of waiting for a new album to be released. Make plans to go to the record store or one of the box stores, hoping they'd carry it. It's not so much of an activity these days with all the preorders, the streaming, and all that, but this one was.
Lover was the first Taylor Swift album I got my daughter. I had to plan to go to Target and get the limited edition, the one with the book. That little piece of memory I hold relating to this album makes it a little more special for me.
Aside from that, this record still competes highly with the others. It is unskippable. "ME", "Paper Rings", "Lover", "Cruel Summer", and "The Archer" are all great songs that are some of the best songs Taylor has, but what makes this one special is that it includes the songs "The Man" and "You Need to Calm Down". "The Man", it's all true, and I love the message it sends to girls everywhere. Same with "You Need to Calm Down". I love the message behind these. This was a step into new territory and a new type of writing, taking a stance, and I love that about this album.
5. Taylor Swift
The first album she put out is perfectly placed right in the middle. Taylor launched into the scene with her Self-Titled album, and the world would never be the same. This year, the album turns 18 years old, even older than Taylor was when it was released.
Every high schooler with a breakup could relate to this album. The song "Tim McGraw" tells the tale of summer love. "Teardrops on My Guitar" gives us the longing for a crush that doesn't even know us. "Our Song", the young love anthem. "Picture to Burn" shows Taylor's angst and anger when those loves fell by the wayside, and "Should've Said No" tells a story of someone who messed up, and she's not happy. There are so many elements, and this is just the beginning of what we'd love about her and what issues she would have to deal with for writing breakup songs.
4. Red
Released on October 22, 2012, we got the fourth studio album and fourth-ranked Taylor Swift album, Red. This one was the start of a transition, with more pop anthem-type songs and songs that brought different elements than her more country-driven ones from previous albums, but not the full-on pop that would come to be.
The songs boasted from this record include "22", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "We Are Never Getting Back Together", "Everything Has Changed", and my favorite and a lot of people's favorites, the emotional ballad "All Too Well". A pivotal album in Taylor's career, this was only beaten by three other albums.
3. 1989
The year is 2014, and I hear the song "Blank Space" for the first time; my radio doesn't go loud enough for this. I was instantly hooked; this was golden. It might still be my favorite, but that's not the only great song from this one. "Style", "Shake it Off", "Bad Blood", "Wildest Dreams", and "Out of the Woods" also came from this album.
Red was the catapult further into the pop scene, leaving her country roots behind. It's another front-to-back record that will always hold up. This record documents another point in Taylor's life with transition musically and life as she journals her transition to New York.
2. Reputation
Big reputation, big reputation. This one was hard not to go to first, but it just couldn’t make it. I love this album because of what it means as a whole. Sure, this one has plenty of jams, including "End Game" and "I Did Something Bad."
This one just had an edge to it, and watching her go through everything she did and come out with this after that, making a statement with it, showing you won’t mess with her and keep her down. "Look What You Made Me Do"; look what you made her do! Being an already Swiftie, I loved that she brought it and fought back. Some more great songs on this one include "Gorgeous", "Call It What You Want", "…Ready for It", and my favorite from the album, "Getaway Car."
1. Fearless
Ranking Taylor’s albums is a tricky thing to do because they’re all fantastic. I had to give this one the number-one spot, though. This album was her follow-up to her successful start.
Second albums mean so much and make a big difference for an artist. Because she came out with this next, an album that is front to back, don’t you dare skip, speaks even higher of her abilities. Fearless won Album of the Year, and until Billie Elish broke that record, Taylor was the youngest artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year—a record she held from 2010 to 2020.
The hits on this record include "Fearless", "Fifteen", "Love Story", "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", and "Breathe"; some of the best songs she has ever written were on this one. That is why the number one, best Taylor Swift album is Fearless. Go put on "White Horse" and cry along with the teenage heartbreak until the new record comes out. Could that maybe top this one?