Despite common belief, she doesn’t just write breakup songs. If you were to listen to anything other than the mainstream hits, you’d know this. 

Taylor Swift has been publishing music since 2006; she started off being a mix of pop and country. As she got older, her music matured into strictly pop. 

I’ve been listening to Swift ever since I could hear–I was shocked when I learned that my first word was ‘dada’ and not ‘Trouble’ (one of Swift’s radio hits). 

As a fan of all eras of her life, being asked what album of hers is the best is a very difficult question to answer, but not impossible. 

Then comes the question, do those who want to rank her albums include the versions that she no longer owns? For the ones that she has re-recorded (Taylor’s Version), I have not included the originals in my list. 

9. Reputation 

Reputation was recorded in 2017, and was seen as her comeback album after she hadn’t made a public or social appearance in months. “Nobody’s heard from me for months, I’m doing better than I ever was” is from the song “Call It What You Want” on the album. 

Reputation is ranked last because the songs on the album don’t match the kind of music that I’m interested in these days. It fits more into the pop genre, and I enjoy her slower music with a calmer beat. 

One song that I am able to recognize as a well crafted song on the album is “Getaway Car”. Getaway Car is perfect for blasting in the car and never fails to put me in a good mood. 

“I love Reputation the most. There isn’t a single skip. I went to the tour and it just does it for me every time” said fellow “Swiftie”, Odessa Bowers.

8. 1989

I was feeling very solemn as I typed 1989 as almost the last on this list as it used to be my favorite. However, my reason for putting this as eighth is similar to why Reputation is last. 

1989 is very upbeat, and to me, it barely even feels like Swift when I listen to it. It sticks out compared to her other albums and probably has the most radio hits because of this. 

My least favorite song on this album is “Shake It Off”; the song is not only overplayed but also makes me feel like I’m in a millennial’s Zumba class. 

Other aspects that I like about this album is her recent re-recording of two of the songs, more specifically “This Love”. 

The original version of this song captures a heartbroken Taylor who is describing the painful beauty of their love story. In the re-recording, it sounds like an older perspective of the same girl who’s looking back on this time of hurt after she’s healed. 

7. Lover 

Lover lists higher on the list because of the dreamy feel it holds. This album doesn’t have any of the heartbreak that is deeply rooted in all of the others; the album cover of pastels can attest to this. 

I’ve personally always loved the cover art for this album. It stands out from her normally neutral toned album covers.

This album is also home to my least favorite song of Swift’s, “Me”. In my opinion, this song does not fit her style whatsoever and the collaboration with Brendon Urie from Panic at the Disco feels very random. 

I started becoming a fan of this album from the TikTok hit song “Paper Rings”. This song has a young and innocent love vibe to it. Another well constructed song on this album is the album namesake, “Lover”. 

“Lover” is so well loved that she created a special version for people to use as this first dance song. While I’m not sure yet of what the details of my wedding will be, this song will surely make an appearance. 

6. Speak Now

I’d say that Speak Now was the peak of Swift’s pop era; this whole album radiates very positive and poppy vibes. While some songs have deceitful intentions, such as “Speak Now” which talks about crashing a wedding, the beats of all of the songs make them seem innocent. 

One outlier song in this album is “Dear John”, a song that tells the story of her being fooled by John Meyer’s mind games when she was at the age of 19. The listener can feel Swift’s anger, sadness, and confusion throughout the song, making it the perfect breakup anthem. 

5. Debut (Taylor Swift)

Debut is Swift’s first original studio album and was the closest to country that she had ever gotten. Her country accent, real or not, is persistent throughout all of the songs and makes the whole album bittersweet. 

This album has a few fan favorites, such as “Picture to Burn” and “Teardrops on My Guitar”. My favorite song on this album is “Our Song”; it describes how the couple has a nightly routine instead of a song that defines their relationship. 

4. Red (Taylor’s Version) 

Most of the songs on this album aren’t my absolute favorites, but the ten minute song on this album brings it into the top 5. “All Too Well (10 minute version)” (ATWTMV)  is an elongated version of another song on this album with the same title, “All Too Well”. 

Red is one of the two albums that Swift has re-recorded so far and by far has the best added on songs, ATWTMV being one of them. A few other added on or “vault” songs are “Better Man”, “I Bet You Think About Me”, and “Message In a Bottle”. 

The music video to “ATWTMV” brought me to tears…on multiple occasions. The way that it portrays the development, hardships, and breaking of their relationship is truly soul shattering. 

The song “The Lucky One” is wildly underrated. It talks about desperately wanting to be the “It” girl of Hollywood and then once she was there, she realized why the last one ran away. 

3. Evermore

Evermore fits my current personality more than the other albums do. The other albums speak to my past, while this album speaks to my present self. 

This album was released in July of 2020, mid-quarantine, so it felt almost like a present as I (and anyone else on Earth) was going through the tough isolation that came with COVID-19. 

From this album, I like the song “Champagne Problems”. It follows the story of a girl who doesn’t know her true feelings until things are brought to a more serious level. 

While this album is mostly slow-paced, “Long Story Short” gives a fun upbeat element to this album. It talks about falling for the wrong guy, but the wrong guy being the right one ofr her. 

2. Folklore

This was almost my first, but I don’t have as much of an attachment to this album as I do to the first ranking album. Folklore came out shortly before Evermore and some refer to them as sister albums because of their close release dates. 

Folklore is truly a no skip album and is filled with lyrics ripped straight out of her heart. My favorite line from the album is “I’m still on that tightrope/ I’m still trying everything/ to get you laughing at me” from Mirrorball. 

While I would normally point out a song that I don’t like on this album, I don’t think there is any. Each song has the perfect amount of screaming-in-the-car to heart shattering ratio. 

1. Fearless (Taylor’s Version) 

Fearless is the album that introduced me to Swift’s music, and I don’t think I went a day without listening to this album from ages six to ten. This album shaped me into the person that I am today. 

This is Swift’s second album and produced the fan favorite, “You Belong With Me”. This song is something that nearly everyone who had a radio in the early 2000s knows. 

My favorite song on this album is most definitely “Fifteen”. Not many artists romanticize this awkward teen year, but Swift managed to and has made fifteen feel like a magical year for many young girls, including me. 

“That’s The Way I Loved You” is another song on this album that is well liked and one of my favorites.