Over the years of her career, Taylor Swift never misses dominating the airwaves with song after song. Starting from a humble beginning in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania's suburban town, young Swift began making music when she was young. Swift penned her first-ever song, titled Lucky You, when she was only twelve. Little did young Swift know, eighteen years later, she would have released eight studio albums, with over 37 million sales, and dozens of sold-out stadium tours.
To celebrate Folklore's release, there is not a better time to rank Taylor Swift's albums' discography from the weakest to the best.
8 Taylor Swift (2006)
Written during her freshman year of high school, Taylor Swift's debut eponymous album was young Swift trying to find her real voice. Thinking Swift only makes revenge songs about her exes since 2014 is an awful mistake — on Picture to Burn, Swift showcases the sassy side of her, "I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive / You're a redneck heartbreak who's really bad at lying."
Taylor Swift is not a terrible album at all, but considered to the rest of the records in her superior category; unfortunately, this puts Taylor Swift at the bottom of the list.
7 Reputation (2017)
Experimenting on new sounds is Taylor Swift's expertise, so it's understandable to see some fans recall electro-flavored Reputation as an iconic album because it is. The old Taylor was dead, and all fans had was the new, eager-for-revenge Taylor who showed no sign of slowing down from tearing down her nemesis. On its lead single, Look What You Made Me Do, Swift flips what media and tabloids have been saying about her during the height of her public disputes with Mr. and Mrs. You-Know-Who.
It's just really not her. Yes, Reputation might have opened many doors for Swift, but knowing Swift as the American Sweetheart, Reputation felt really out of character, though perhaps that was the point.
6 Lover (2019)
Departing from the dark tone of Reputation, Taylor Swift's Lover felt like a refreshment for many. Upon its release, the crooner embodied pastel colors and summer aesthetics on her social media, and called the album "a return to the fundamental songwriting pillars that I usually build my house on." The same electro-pop mood board was last heard on the 2014 album, 1989.
To many fans, Lover is an open diary of Taylor Swift. On Me! featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! At the Disco, both powerhouse vocalists embark on a journey of self-love and acceptance. You Need to Calm Down; the second single is an uplifting & juicy pride theme against online trolls, cancel culture and homophobia.
5 Red (2012)
Red, one of the most critically acclaimed album of the 2010s, won the fifth place on this list. Swift touches the blurry line of relationship, heartbreaks, in a much more matured perspective, while shifting from her country roots to a more mainstream pop approach.
Her songwriting game is always top-notch, like on Begin Again, where she goes extra candid about her bittersweet story of re-finding the lost love. "And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid / I think it's strange that you think I'm funny cause he never did," she sings. "I've been spending the last 8 months thinking all love ever does is break, and burn, and end / But on a Wednesday, in a cafe, I watched it begin again."
4 Folklore (2020)
Release announcements and promotional singles are two of the most critical cornerstones of building a commercially successful album, but who knew Taylor Swift could pull a Beyoncé at this age of streaming? Folklore is a nostalgia trip to the younger self of Taylor Swift, not the Red or the 1989 version, but the Speak Now and Fearless kind of Taylor. Jotted during the coronavirus pandemic's isolation, Folklore embraces indie folk, alt-rock, and country tunes with vivid imagery of third-person storytelling and beautiful 'stream of consciousness.'
"A tale that becomes folklore is one that is passed down and whispered around. Sometimes even sung about," Swift wrote on her Instagram. "The lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscernible. Speculation, over time, becomes fact. Myths, ghost stories, and fables. Fairytales and parables. Gossip and legend. Someone's secrets written in the sky for all to behold."
3 Fearless (2008)
How is it possible to not feature a 12-million-copies-sold album on the top three of Taylor Swift's discography? If there's anything, the Grammy-winning Fearless album is the record that put Taylor Swift into a pedestal of skyrocketing success.
On this album, Swift matures her storytelling ability — the prime example is Love Story, where she vividly tells the Romeo and Juliet story, but instead of the tragic ending, she adds a little happy twist into it. The second single, You Belong With Me, was inspired by a male friend of her who was arguing with his girlfriend over the phone at the time, prompting Swift to develop a plotline about it.
2 1989 (2014)
From your favorite radio station to your city's biggest billboard, from 2014 to 2015, Taylor Swift was everywhere. With 1989, she shook the world off (get it?) and made 2014 her playground and proved that she's more than just a ranch country girl and will succeed in the pop industry. 1989 was a total switch from her country roots to the brand-new bubblegum poppy Taylor but still maintains the same authenticity as her previous albums.
With the first-week sales of over 1.2 million copies, 1989 was one of the year's best-selling albums. It will be more than impossible for Swift to replicate the same success, but with the positive receptions over Folklore, we shall find out and see.
1 Speak Now (2010)
There's no denying that Taylor Swift always brings her best pen game when writing her own music, but Speak Now was something else. In the age of ghostwriting, Swift proved that she does not need one on Speak Now, as she single-handedly wrote the whole album - all by herself with no co-writer. She was only 21 at that time, but her maturity speaks throughout her lyrics.
On Mine, for example, Swift reflects on an unnamed crush, "Do you remember, we were sittin', there by the water? / You put your arm around me for the first time / You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter / You are the best thing, that's ever been mine." That's only one example over the fourteen tracks of the album, and with Folklore's release in mind, Swift is more than capable of duplicating the success of her previous albums.
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