Top 10 Taylor Swift albums (Matt’s version)

Swifties campus-wide rejoice: the ultimate opportunity to share your love of Taylor’s music has arrived. For the rest of the semester, not only will a number of writers be putting their own ranking in print for fans to see and discuss, but you, dear reader, have the opportunity to have your ranking of Swift’s ten main albums published in The Lamron as well! Simply email lamron.arts@gmail.com with your picks and something about what makes you love Swift’s music to see it published in a future edition!

Now, it goes without saying, but even though the process of ranking these albums would allude to the idea that someone dislikes certain eras or songs, that’s simply not true for myself—each Swift album has its own charm and nostalgia for everyone, and via ranking them we can learn more about what makes certain albums tick for certain people.

With that said, here’s my ranking:

Ten: Taylor Swift (2006)

Despite not being a fan of country music, there’s a lot to love about the album that started it all, specifically “Our Song,” which continues to bop nearly 20 years after its release, and “Teardrops On My Guitar,” which shows Swift’s lyrical prowess even as an undiscovered teenager. It raises perhaps the most curious question in the Swift fanbase—how will Taylor’s Version adapt an album that predates much of what people love about her music?

Nine: Lover (2019)

Being the first album Swift herself owned upon release, it’s clear she was able to take a number of risks and jumps that benefited her music greatly. Though arguably her most poppy album, Lover hones in on a number of personal dilemmas like “Soon You’ll Get Better,” about her mother’s battle with cancer, and “I Forgot That You Existed,” about her optimism for the future after reputation’s darker atmosphere. This album lit the sky for many wondering what was next for Swift and her music.

Eight: Red (2012/2021)

Though I only listened to “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Getting Back Together” when Red first released in 2012, Taylor’s Version proved to many the sheer power that her re-releases held. Whether it be the record-breaking ten-minute version of “All Too Well” or the popular and upbeat “Message In A Bottle,” Red (Taylor’s Version) was a release Swifties will remember forevermore.

Seven: folklore (2020)

This was the album we all needed—the light in what is likely the darkest time in recent memory. folklore offered solace to many when the future was so gravely uncertain. Whether it be her hits like “cardigan” and “exile” or the deep tracks like “seven” and “my tears ricochet,” there was something here for every Swiftie, as well as for those who didn’t know they needed her music until it found them.

Six: Fearless (2008/2021)

Fearless holds an interesting place in Swift’s discography, especially for our generation. Having been released in 2008, many of us were old enough to understand that we liked what we were hearing but were perhaps not able to understand why. Looking back, there’s no doubt that songs like “White Horse,” “You Belong With Me,” “Hey Stephen,” and “Fifteen” were enjoyable not just to children—each song holds a significance to Swift and her younger life and that passion permeates through her songs.

Five: reputation (2017)

For the longest time, reputation ranked near the bottom of my personal favorite albums; now, years after its release, the brilliance of Swift’s “nighttime” album is ironically clear as day. From her power-pop hits like “Don’t Blame Me” and “...Ready For It?” to the slow and touching pieces like “Dress,” “Call It What You Want,” “Dancing With Our Hands Tied,” and “New Year’s Day,” reputation is the perfect comeback album and showcases Swift working within pop at her peak.

Four: Midnights (2022)

Sixteen years after the release of her first album, Swift is not just a force to be reckoned with in the music industry, but the force to be reckoned with. Midnights continues to play on the lyrical brilliance we all know while experimenting with new sounds and themes. Take “Vigilante Shit,” “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve,” or “Anti-Hero,” for example; all of these songs center around themes common in Swift’s music like self-image, innocence, and revenge, yet each takes the theme and turns it in a new direction while proving that Swift is, of course, here to stay.

Three: evermore (2020)

Though it may be controversial, I will continue to argue that evermore is better than folklore for a number of reasons. While I love folklore and what it represents to us in such a dark memory, evermore remains the COVID-19 album I return to years after its release. While playing on the same softer, understated rhythms that folklore introduced, evermore ran with it. Songs like “champagne problems,” “tolerate it,” and “cowboy like me” offer stories on the same level as folklore while perfecting the music behind it, boosting it to heights rarely seen before.

Two: Speak Now (2010)

Being the only album that Swift wrote completely alone, Speak Now contains some of the most beautiful music she’s ever written while defying all the expectations we had then, and have now. It wasn’t just a country album or just a pop album—and that’s just in terms of music. When it comes to lyrics, there is no greater proof of Swift’s prowess than Speak Now, with songs like “Back to December,” “Dear John,” “Enchanted,” and “If This Was A Movie” showcasing some of Swift’s best lyrics.

One: 1989 (2014)

Now that we’re here, I find it hard to put words together on why 1989 has been, is, and will continue to be my favorite Taylor Swift album. Perhaps it’s from the hits like “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” or “Bad Blood” that garnered so much attention and acclaim that they diffused into our collective subconscious. Maybe it’s the slower songs like “Wildest Dreams,” “This Love,” and “Clean” that continue to evoke emotions and empathy I didn’t know I had. Maybe it’s just how all the songs have this perfect cohesion that makes the deep cuts like “How You Get The Girl,” “I Wish You Would,” and “I Know Places” sound like they belong together and nowhere else. It was the album that, for me, confirmed that Swift’s music not only deserved but needed a place in my life.